


Ignorance Isn't As Blissful As It Sounds

by Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Abuse, Action/Adventure, Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Drama, F/M, Romance, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:08:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 44
Words: 155,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27204997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon/pseuds/Kawaii_Chibi_InuDemon
Summary: Whoever said ignorance was bliss never had to deal with the aftermath of said ignorance.  Kagome finds herself in a seemingly hopeless mess over one night, that she can't recall, that seems to roll downhill causing not only her pain, but affects those that are close to her.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I should start out with the disclaimer: I do not own any characters that are apart of the wonderful series 'Inuyasha'.

The grounds of the home they were at were so large that in the early morning's light no one noticed the woman that lay sprawled out naked behind a row of bushes. The veranda of the back yard wasn't far from the prone figure, but as she seemed to be out like a light it didn't seem to matter to her. Behind her was a gate that led to a personal hot spring for the owners of the home they were currently staying, at least they had only planned to stay that night and had hoped to be gone as soon as the morning time came. The woman's prone form was hidden from view of that place too, another bush hiding all but her feet from view. With a groan she pulled her feet closer to her body, making her form huddle into a fetal position as the wind blew a chill over her body, goosebumps breaking out over her as she groaned again. Shivering she opened her eyes and with a squeak she found herself looking at a spider that dangled from its web on the bush. Holding back her scream of horror at spotting the creepy crawler she backed up and found the bush behind her also held a web, but she forgot all of it for a second as her head pounded in irritation of her movement and the sun that nearly blinded her upon looking around her. She gasped at the realization that she was also nude...in the open...and had a hanger of all things. Shrinking down she looked around, sure that she would never had come outside without a stitch of clothing.

To her luck she spotted a robe just a few inches from the bush to her right. Looking around again, even though that movement was hindered by the protests of her body she grasped out for the robe and pulling it on without a thought of whose it might be or if it was clean. Tying it tight, again thankful that she was covered, and struggled to get up, the rocks that were under the bushes startling her at the pain they caused. She felt so disgusting and in so much pain from every muscle in her body throbbing that when her eyes spotted the entrance to the hot spring she could only think of how good that sounded instead of was she allowed in there. Shoving open the wooden door and finding that no one was in the small space she practically jumped into the hot waters, her newly acquired robe still on her small form. As she sank into the waters on one of the seats that had been created over time in the stones that lined the small spot of water. As she grew more comfortable she removed the robe before throwing it onto the ground behind her. Sighing she tried to remember what had happened last night that would cause her to be outside and nude, but the only thing she could remember from the night before was the celebration that had come from Miroku "helping" rid their home from a dark aura that hung over their dwelling.

"Not that I am one to complain when it means we don't have to sleep out in the cold," she muttered as she leaned back to close her eyes. Indeed, none of them, save for Inuyasha and Shippo, were glad to be indoors with comfortable beds and hot food. Giggling, the sound causing her head to throb again, she was sure that the two demons that were in the group were more than happy to indulge in that part of the con. Miroku had his uses, but he was also a good friend. He ensured that the group had food when her own stash ran out and the demons in the group, Sango of similar assistance in that part, couldn't locate food. The Hanyou groused about them stopping in a human dwelling, but none of the people they had assisted seemed to mind the demons in their group...although they didn't always come off friendly with the pair either. Noting that just thinking seemed to advance the stage of her headache she tried to blank her mind for a moment as she allowed the waters to clean her sweaty skin of whatever she had done the night before, but her mind still insisted that she needed to remember what she had done to abuse herself to the point of the pain her body was enduring this day.

She could remember eating the wonderful food that had been provided for them and she could remember that Sango had stuck to Miroku like glue as the dancers of the lord were presented as entertainment...and of course the fact that the men in the group had been watching said dancers, the monk in particular had almost lost his eyes with how far they seemed to bug out of his sockets upon seeing the scantily clad figures. Kagome had looked the female's over, remembering from her history class about the trappings for such a celebration entailed. Dancers and...sake! "Shit," she cursed. The sake, that had to be the reason for her headache and for the events that had led to this morning's shameful side effects. She could feel the headache's raging power banging against her skull to the point that she feared that she would throw up from the excruciating pain.

"Kagome?" a female voice called out in question from the other side of the door. Opening her chocolate orbs she looked over at the door and answered Sango's voice. Upon seeing that her female friend was indeed in the hot tubs she moved to her side, sympathy at the obvious plight that her friend was in. "Sorry about last night," she whispered as she crouched down to her level. At the confusion in the other female's eyes she clarified. "I shouldn't have left your side and I damn sure shouldn't have allowed you to drink." Ah, so now it made sense and she shook her head.

"No worries, Sango," she said trying to smile, the pain in her head dulling slowly but still strong enough to make her attempt turn into a grimace. "I'm old enough to make my own decisions and don't hold you responsible for last night. After all, you had to make sure another of our members didn't do something very stupid." She watched as a blush rose on her friend's face at the mention of said member of their party. "Oh my, Sango, what is that blush about?" She wiggled her brows at her, suggesting that whatever had caused the reddening on the slayer's cheeks was perverse in nature. When Sango let out a squeal of excitement Kagome winced, holding her palms against her ears as her fingers pushed against her temples. The ringing was back and with it the need to empty the contents of her stomach.

"Oh, sorry Kagome, I forgot," she whispered before telling her friend that when they were on the road she would tell the woman about what had transpired between her and the monk. "Where's Inuyasha?" the slayer asked. "He wasn't in the rooms that the lord gave us last night." Kagome threw her a look, one that spoke of her curiosity on that subject. "He did stay with you last night at the celebration?" Kagome nodded. She recalled that he had been sitting next to her, trying to stop her from drinking the alcoholic drink that had been offered to her. Frowning she recalled how he had drank almost all of the drinks given to her and once he had gone off to relieve himself she had finally gotten to try the sake. She was almost seventeen and while in her time you had to be at least twenty to consume such drinks, in this time you need only be thirteen to be considered of age to be marry so it made sense that the age for consumption of sake shouldn't be much older.

"Um, I don't really know," she supplied with frown. "I remember a little bit of last night, the fact that he wouldn't let me even try the sake. I think he drank the entire bottle that had been given to me, well, what I figure equals a whole bottle." She looked a little ashamed when she realized how drunk he had gotten, becoming so different than his normal self by clinging to her like a second skin while glowering at all the males that were in the room. Well, maybe not too different, but this Inuyasha had been quite verbal vs. the normally stoic half demon. "I can't really recall much, save for having continued to drink with a more relaxed drinking partner." A blush came to her cheeks and her friend knew that like Sango, Kagome had obviously had enjoyed her time with the Hanyou. "He was embarrassing last night," she said with an even brighter blush and a scowl.

Or maybe not... Sango wondered what the normally uptight Hanyou could have done. Sure, he wasn't all strict with his person, but he was seemingly emotionally unavailable or something. Except when it comes to that damn dead Miko. She knew that Inuyasha's relationship with the older Miko had hurt the young female before her several times, the fact that he knew what he did and still went after his ex. Maybe he didn't know how the raven haired woman felt, but the fact that he seemed to hesitate in leaving Kagome's side would prove otherwise. Actions may speak louder than words, but in this case Inuyasha didn't seem to realize that Kagome's actions were just the tip of the iceberg. Kagome was on that tipping point with the Hanyou and there was no telling how much more she could take before she drowned in her conflicted feelings. Kagome was pure in the way she acted, her heart filled with love to share with all of them. That amazed the slayer that someone could heal so many with just her friendship while in the same time forfeiting that same heart when her deepest love didn't return those feelings. The younger female was strong, there was no doubt about that, but the saying of 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall' came to mind and she knew that that had relation to the two hopeless hearts in her small group.

"Hell, I don't know how I even ended up where I did this morning," the female said before realizing she had revealed something she shouldn't. Looking at the slayer she noted the side look, her brow rose in confusion and the questions that lurked in her umber toned eyes. "Anyway, we should probably look for him and the others so we can get on the road." Sango almost said something, but thinking better of it at the moment she knew that Kagome was right. They needed to get on the road. They were so close to finding Naraku and that had been the thing that kept them going, stalling the normal life they all longed for. She knew that she and Miroku were waiting for the kazaana to be closed while she was just hoping to correct her mistake. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do once that was done. She was torn between here and her time, though there was a stronger pull for staying in this time, but that wasn't just because of her friends. She would miss them, but she couldn't imagine being in this era if upon completion of the jewel she would have to watch the reunion between Inuyasha and Kikyo. She knew he loved her, but she couldn't find it in herself to stay if he chose the dead Miko, the pain of watching them together every day. No, she would have to go home and truthfully, she was close to just going back home and staying there. Her heart could only take so many strikes to it, his continued sneaking off to the other Miko. "Oh, um, could you bring me my bag? I have nothing but that dirty robe," she said pointing behind her. Chuckling at the young woman she headed off do the favor the Miko had asked of her.

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Earlier that morning...

Groaning as he lifted his head, the silver haired male looked around his surroundings, noting that he was in the hot springs and that he was also nude. Flushing at his lack of clothing in a public place he moved quickly. It didn't take him long to find the rooms that the lord of the residence had given them and with no one spotting him rush thru the courtyard in his birthday suit. Well, almost no one... "Why're you naked, Inuyasha?" Shippo asked, his eye blurry with sleep as he wiped at them. "And why do you smell so funny?" he asked after a sniff. "Like papa after he took mom to their room for alone time," he clarified. Miroku was now awake, the look on his face telling how long he had been awake even as he tried to fake that he had just gotten up.

"Don't say a word," the Hanyou hissed at the monk because he knew what the perverted male was going to say and he did not need to hear it. Yeah, he had woken up, smelling sex on his body and yet, he couldn't think of who he had had sex with. He couldn't scent the female that he had laid with and that in itself was bothersome. Why couldn't he remember last night? Was it the sake? No, I've drank more than that before. He was a half demon and as such his demonic side was not a lightweight by any standards, now his human half he wasn't sure. That was one night he never let his guard down, not even to sleep even if on that night he could find his body fighting him on that front he never gave in...well, not true. He had that one night with Kagome all that time ago, when they had first met. He had allowed sleep to claim him, but that was because of the poison in his body and the fact that he trusted the wench. He trusted that she would never allow him to die, even if that meant she would forfeit her life. Not that he would ever let that happen. That night he had had allowed him to sleep because of his Tessaiga protecting them since he was in no shape to do so.

"I was just wondering who the lucky girl was," the monk said with a taunting smile, as if he might have an idea of whom the girl was that he had allowed to be his first and regretting that it wasn't who he wanted it to be. Not that he could remember who it was, but he was sure that it wasn't Kagome. She saw him as a friend and even though she had said she would say with him he knew that she hadn't done that because she wanted to be with him, no she assumed that he wanted Kikyo and even though she had appeared upset with him for going to the other Miko's side he knew it was because she was worried that he would be taken to Hell with the dead woman. Friends didn't want to lose another friend, not to anything and he knew that was how she felt. There was only person that had even appeared to love him as more than a friend, Kikyo... even if she wanted him to make a wish on the jewel of four souls to become a human. She had only wanted what was the best for them, wishing him human would not only take away that obstacle away so she could live a normal life like other Miko's were allowed in the past, but he could live a life free of the hate and intolerance that he had grown up around. They could live the short life that humans lived and then die in each other's arms while their children prospered long after them.

That wouldn't happen now. He was more than sure that dead bodies couldn't give life to another soul...even if it was something no one had ever thought about. Even if she could have lived a normal life with him, even in that form, he didn't want it. He didn't quite known when he had come to realize it, but the Hanyou didn't want to be with Kikyo. He loved her, sure, but it wasn't the all consuming way that he loved Kagome. She made him feel lighter, unburdened when all the guilt he had felt because of Kikyo's untimely death, but she also made the Hanyou happier, the happiest he had ever felt in a long time. Way before the male had met Kikyo, when his mother had still been alive. It was that kind of happiness that he felt when he was around the younger Miko. "None of your business," Inuyasha snapped at the monk. But he seemed to know, that look in his amethyst orbs told him as much. He knew Inuyasha was lying, but the silver haired male wasn't going to admit it so he decided to change the topic. "Where are the girls?" Miroku smirked, knowing what Inuyasha was doing, but deciding to humor the Hanyou.

"They were in the other room, well, Sango went in there after we spent some quality time together," he said and when he turned Inuyasha could see no mark from the slayer's hand, but sniffing the air he could smell her scent, still rather fresh considering it had happened last night, but no smells of sex. "And, no, we didn't have sex, you dirty demon." Inuyasha growled at him, letting him know that he was prone to be the more nastier of the group and that the half breed was usually the one watching as he was laid into about such dirty thoughts. "As for Lady Kagome, I have no idea where she is right now." A growl managed to escape, but before he could do anything he heard the door next to him open, the scent of the slayer hitting his nose as she shuffled around in the other room. His ears could hear her opening Kagome's giant yellow bag and without a second thought he finally moved to see what she was doing.

"Sango, where is she?" he asked, nearly startling the slayer who looked over at him, some of Kagome's clothing in her hands.

"She's in the hot springs," was her simple response, but she could see how that response seemed to relax the male before her. "We'll be right back and just a word of warning, Kagome's got her first hangover and she is in a bit of pa-" He scoffed. He didn't particularly know that much about hangovers, again since he had demon blood he was rather immune to getting drunk enough to feel that pain, but he also knew that for some it could be particularly brutal. He may not have been around humans in an friendly manner, but he had observed humans after the got intoxicated when watching for danger in the towns they stayed in and before that. He had always been close to villages, even if he never really ever stayed in one after his mother's death, but he had witnessed it then when the people in the household had over indulged and how rotten they felt the next day.

"I know what a hangover is, Sango," he stated. Nodding at him she headed off to give her friend new clothing.


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't understand why you didn't use that chance to kill them all," a voice stated behind the long haired male, the small male scowling at what could be considered his father in some strange fashion. Just that thought alone made the child shudder. To have such a man as a father would doom that child to death since said man never did his own dirty work and allowed his "children" to take the sword for him should it come down to that. The male chuckled darkly, the sound echoing around them in the silence of the room. The place was always so quiet, a deadly silence that was only broken when someone should come in and say something or the male in front of him started talking to himself. That was often enough that it seemed the male before him was going crazy, slowly from the evil that consumed his body and the lust for disaster that throbbed in his blood.

"Ah, but that wouldn't be nearly as entertaining as what will come from my interference in that night's activities," he said, the tone of his voice one of immense pleasure as he thought of all that could have happened in that night from his tainting of the drink that only two of the party goers had needed for his plan to work. Another chance to taint the one that held the ability to purify him, the one that would be of more use to him if he tainted her very soul. It had been a hard task in the past, even the brat that Kagura had been left in charge of had failed to bring about her darkening that he yearned for. She was a hard one to break, Kikyo hadn't even put up a fight when he had helped her to betray her Hanyou and yet this girl held a purity that made him feel like a vampire being exposed to the sunlight. He feared her for that purity, but this latest scheme would break that purity because it was so uncertain what the outcome of his interference would led to for those two unwilling participants. Chuckling again he turned to the child. "Keep an eye on them. Tell me what happens when it all goes downhill."

"How do you know it will?" the small child asked, his periwinkle eyes narrowing in suspicion of how this new plan would work better than all the others. It seemed rather simple for something that would bring about further tainting of the jewel, well, what part they had of said jewel and while that was quite a bit of it the group that fought against them held another large part of it. It wasn't as large as their portion, but it was enough to make the child question who would win in the end. He didn't want to die, but he didn't want to live under the dark haired male.

"That's the thing, humans are so predictable," the male stated. "So emotional when it comes to those they love and when those they love hurt them..." he faded off to leave the rest of his sentence up for interpretation. The kid got it, but it still didn't make any sense as to how it would taint the jewel. Leaving it at that he went to do just as the male had told him to do. Follow the group and find out what kind of turmoil his intervention had wrought.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kagome seemed nervous as she entered the home of the lord that had allowed them to rest there, her scent told him as much, but what he couldn't figure out was why she was she feeling nervous. She hadn't come to find them, no, upon leaving the hot springs she had rushed to her and Sango's room, not even allowing Sango into the room at first as she made noise digging thru her bag as if something in there were more important and such a secret.

"I thought you took her clothes," Inuyasha stated, annoyed that yet again they were denied the opportunity to head back on the road. "It's past dawn now and we are still here!" he growled. Sango shot him a look, one meant to covey the threat of death if he didn't shut up.

"I did bring her clothing, but when I got back to her she was freaking out about something." Looking at the wall that stood between the group and the Miko from the future. "She said that the clothing I had brought her wouldn't do and came back to find something else." That was noteworthy to the group as Kagome hadn't ever been too picky about her attire. After all, she wore what was comfortable and easy to do battle in since that's what they did most of the time.

"Her baths are annoying enough," the Hanyou stated, failing to notice that the noise in the other room had stopped. "Now she's gonna have a conniption about her clothing now too!?" Sango backed away from the door, Miroku and Shippo also moved as far from the silver haired male just seconds before the door burst open to reveal a rather ticked off female with brown eyes that seemed to crack with a icy chill that filled the room.

"Annoying you with my baths?" she hissed, the question filling the air for a moment as all the occupants stood still, hoping to keep her wrath from tearing into them as Inuyasha even found himself immobile from the look of absolute hate that filled her chocolate eyes. "I'll have a conniption about whatever the fuck I want to have a damned conniption about!" Her hair seemed to swirl around her as the pink aura of her Miko powers rose with her anger. She had gotten more powerful over the months, the training with both Kaede and Miroku helping her to control her powers, but when I came to her emotions...well, she had little control when she was in a particularly foul mood. It didn't happen often, even when the pair were having a spat she hadn't really powered up, but this time she was way more upset and it showed. Turning her gaze to Sango, she seemed to change her tone, a softer one that still held an icy chill to it. "Can I use Kirara?" she inquired, her reason for doing so obvious to all, but Inuyasha still managed to insert his foot in his mouth.

"Now, listen here, bitch, you are not going home!" At the icy gaze that settled back on him she threw his words from so long ago back at him.

"And what makes you think that you have the right to tell me what I will and won't do?" she hissed and they all felt the temperature drop even more in the small space. Her aura was growing and although the humans in the group really had nothing to worry about the half demon in front of her knew that if he didn't shut his mouth and keep it shut that she might "accidentally" purify him. "That's what I thought!" Kirara meowed at her and in a flash the pair were off, Kagome having calmed her aura enough to ride the fire cat off towards the Bone Eater's Well leaving the group to watch her leave them behind. Shippo was the first to say something, his small form shivering at the thought of how angry the young woman had appeared.

"Kagome can be super scary," he stated, looking up at Inuyasha, "Especially when someone can't keep their foot out of their mouth, eh?" Miroku and Sango chuckled, uneasy about the whole new experience with the irate human female. They had never seen her act like that before, well, not that angry before but she had lit into the Hanyou before on a few occasions she had never come off as deadly. The male in question blinked at their words, feeling mildly ashamed for riling her up as he had, but still unsure as to why she had been that angry. That was new since he had made such comments in the past about her bathing habits and although she had been angry at him she had never laid into him before, nearly purifying him in the moment either.

"Ah, the wench has her moments, but she ain't all that scary," he said before turning to head into the girls' abandoned room to grab her yellow bag. This just meant he would have to go back and get her, but knowing that the rest of his group had no real way to head back to the well meant that he would have to wait until the fire cat came back. Sure, that's the reason you're waiting to go and get her...Not the simple fact that you nearly wet yourself half breed. Scowling at the words from his demon he scoffed, annoyed at the fact that his demon would choose to that moment to mock him. Shut up. Bitch doesn't scare me! The chuckle of his demon only made him more angry, but he ignored it as the group packed up and headed off toward the village that was connected to the Bone Eater's Well and where Kagome had originally come from all those years ago. To think that it had been nearly two years ago when the young girl had come to their era...

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Said girl, now a woman in her own right, was watching the trees and landscape below her pass quickly, the fur of Kirara grasped in her shaking fingers as she willed the bile in the bottom of her stomach to stay there and not tumble from her mouth as it had earlier when she had went to put her clothing on. As soon as her naked body had been exposed to her eyes, really looking in a way she hadn't upon first awakening in the bushes of the courtyard, she had looked down at the clothing choice of her friend and had run back to the safety of the waters. She was covered in marks, bruises and bite marks that marred her flesh. Why was she covered in such rampant love marks...or could they be called that if she didn't know the person responsible for those marks. She had sent Sango away before pulling the clothing on and rushing to her bag, hoping she wouldn't run into anyone, let alone the one that she feared would make a big deal about her injuries.

Inuyasha. He would have wanted to know who had done that to her and he wouldn't have let it go until she had admitted her loss of memory to give him such information. He was like a dog with a bone...Chuckling softly at the analogy that said dog demon would not appreciate she sighed. If the marks were any indication then the soreness of her body gave her the other clue. Not only had some of the aching of her body had subsided somewhat, but another part of her body still hurt horribly. Not a real pain in the sense that she could do something about it, but a tenderness between her legs that gave her a sick feeling in her body. Shoving the thoughts aside she tried to urge her stomach to follow her thoughts and stay down. Meowing of the fire cat she currently was riding let her know that they were close to the well. Thanking the cat with a pet of her yellow tinted fur, her fingers stroking the place between the cat's large ears. Purring at her attentions the cat soon began to lower the pair down to the ground.

As soon as she found herself stationary she hopped off Kirara and thanked her again before jumping thru the well, wincing at what she would be telling her mother about her impromptu moment of weakness. Her mother trusted her on the other side as much as she did on her side of the well, so now she would have to tell her mother that she had broken that trust and didn't know who she had slept with the night before. A double blow alone with just those two bits of information, but the fact that she had gotten drunk before such mistakes had been made was just another nail in her coffin. As the light engulfed her she tried to think about how she could break such news to her overly happy mother and what her mother would do to her once she spilled this information. Landing with a slight groan of pain she looked up to the roof of the well house, feeling a trepidation that she had never felt when she came home to her time. There were times she had felt torn when she came home, after a fight with Inuyasha or a particularly hard battle against their enemy, Naraku, but today it was a feeling of such despair that she was feeling like such a failure. It wasn't an honorable thing to get drunk and have sex with someone that you didn't know or didn't remember and while it was accepted for the most part in her time it wasn't something she had ever felt the urge to try...well, she had yearned to do it with one person and that was all it would be...A yearning for something she would never get to try.

"Kagome?" came a soft voice, questioning who was in the well house. It was obviously fate that the Kami up above was having so much fun at her expense.

"Yes, mama," she said as she looked to the ladder that her mother had put in the well for her so she wouldn't have to struggle getting out of the hole in the ground. How she wished that same ground would just swallow her up. Her mother's face appeared at the lip of the well, clearly worried as to why her only daughter was still in the well and that same daughter sounded strange, her voice not her usual cheerful tone nor was it an angry tone that told her that Kagome had had another fight with the Hanyou that usually came with her. Watching as her daughter climbed slowly up the later she knew something was bothering her child and it didn't seem to have anything to do with the one who usually sent her back into their world in a sour disposition. Kagome fell into her mother's arms as soon as she climbed over the lip of the dry well, her body shaking with all the emotions that seemed to war inside her heart and her head, the words that she needed to tell her mother coming out in a jumble of nonsense and yet her mother seemed to understand what was bothering her child. Shame. Shame was tumbling out of her and coming off of her very form as well.

"Oh, my baby," she cooed as she held her child tightly, allowing the young woman to cry it out her shame. It felt like forever as they stayed in that position, her arms aching from the hold she had on her mother, the energy that was now leaking out of her with every shudder of her body and every tear that still managed to make its way down her cheek. "You feel a little better?" her mother asked her, her walnut toned eyes locking onto her daughter's chocolate gaze. Nodding at her mother's question she sniffled. She hadn't cried in a long time, not that she hadn't felt the urge during her time in the Sengoku Period when it came to the Hanyou who held her heart. It had started out as a mild crush, but in the months that came to follow their first meeting she had come to realize that she had more than a crush on the infuriating male. Now she was ashamed of not only what had transpired without her remembering the deed, but that when he found out he would see her as being used goods. Not that it should matter to him since he was only interested in Kikyo, but she knew how possessive he could get when it came to other men coming near her. Hell, the way he reacted when Kagome allowed Koga to get away that first time was like she had betrayed him for the other male. It was far from the truth, but she didn't think her feelings would be appreciated by the half demon so she had told him something that hadn't been a complete lie on her end.

"Um, I need to talk to you..." she faded off as her cheeks burned with embarrassment and shame at the information she had to give her mother. She would need her mother's help after all. "Can we go inside?" At her mother's nod the pair made it across the yard, the sun beating down on them but neither paid it any mind. Both women were on the same wave length and at the same time Kagome was on a more depressing wave length. Finally they sat down at the table and with a quick glance around she was sure that they were alone. Her mother would be upset, but she was more than certain her grandfather might have a heart attack to learn that his granddaughter had given up something that he had always told her should be given to her husband on their wedding day. Good luck with that!

"Grandfather is visiting his friend's home in Chuo City and Sota is on a date with Hitomi." Knowing that they were alone in the home the young woman looked down at her hands, a few tears trying to make an appearance as she willed the courage she needed to tell her mother of her shame.

"I-I...um... I got..." Her mother reached over and touched her daughter's cheek in a calming gesture.

"Kagome, you are almost an adult," her mother said. "And as such I know that you may make some good and bad choices. I did the same thing when I was your age." Surprised by her mother's comforting words she felt doubt enter her heart that her mother had ever done what she had done the night before. "Just know that I will be there for whatever happens in the present, past and future." Smiling at her daughter she could see the fear that still tainted her daughter's brown orbs.

"I got drunk in the feudal era and then to make matters worse I had sex with someone and I don't know who they are!" She took a breath at the end of her sentence, her eyes back on her hands that rested in her lap, waiting for her mother to say something, but when nothing came and the silence felt so thick and full of tension she looked up to find her mother's shocked face. They said nothing to each other for a moment before Kagome blurted out, "I-I'm so sorry mama! I did something so shameful!" Before another word could escape her lips she found her mother hugging her tightly, a soft sound of surprise slipping from Kagome's mouth. She had expected her mother to disown her the moment the words left her lips, but no, her mother was hugging her as if she couldn't let her go. It was almost too tight, but she breathed a sigh of relief as her mother finally pulled back.

"Oh, my baby, I'm not mad at you, but I must admit I am a little disappointed," she clarified for her surprised child. "I want to take you to the doctor as soon as we can get an appointment!" Sighing again she allowed her mother to make the appointment. "And until then you are to stay here," her mother stated, a hardened tone slipping thru. Wincing at the tone she knew she deserved it, but she couldn't just stay on this side. She had to go and help her friends and her mother knew that. "No, Kagome, I am not forbidding you from going back to the past. You can go back after the doctor's appointment. I want to make sure that this lesson in moderation didn't knock you up or give you some kind of std." Then her mother turned thoughtful. "Do they have ways to protect against that in the past?" Turning redder at her mother's strange question she agreed to her mother's stipulation as she rushed to get away from more possible embarrassment to come from her mother's mouth. Now the question was... how long would it be until said appointment and what would Inuyasha do when he found out that she wouldn't be coming back for a while?

"He can just stuff it," she muttered when she recalled his words earlier that day. "Kikyo can just help him until then, not like he wouldn't enjoy some time in her company." Scoffing at the pain that crushed her heart at her own words she entered the bathroom to get a real bath, throwing all thoughts of the past to the back burner.


	3. Chapter 3

On the other side of the well the Hanyou wasn't quite stuffing himself, nor was he looking for the Miko that was dead, no, he was pissed off. Miroku and Sango, being adults and understanding how adults sometimes fucked up, told the male he should probably leave the woman from the future alone for right now. That she obviously needed space, apparent from the blow up just a few hours ago. He didn't want to listen to them, but he felt that they were right about giving her some space and he knew that besides the fact that they were right he would probably end up in a crater that went all the way to the other side of the world if he went over to bring her back. He had never seen her that angry before and as much as he hated to admit such a thing he couldn't hide it from himself or his demon who had grown quiet after taunting him after the female had left. He still wanted to know what was going on with her, worried best fit his feelings at the moment. Hell, he had only done what he had been doing since he met her all that time ago...Antagonizing her because he knew she could take it. She had always been like that and that was probably part of the reason he respected her...and yearned for her. He knew he couldn't give into that last emotion since he had pledged to the dead Miko that still roamed the earth that he would follow her into Hell, even if Kagome hated the fact that he would die after completing the task of collecting the shards. He owed it to the Miko for her death.

He may not have been responsible for her death, no that was Naraku, but he owed her since she had fallen and he had survived. It was in part to her that he survived and that made him wonder why she was so upset with him for living when she had been the one to seal him to the tree, unless it had been an accident. It made sense since she hadn't really been thinking when she had struck him down. That was a question for the dead Miko herself to answer, but he knew she would never give him an answer and he wasn't sure that Kaede could answer it either. They had to have known what the tree could do! Or was it truly the tree and not the wish of the Miko that he survive? No, she was angry that he had lived so that didn't make any sense to him. All the thoughts rattling around in his brain were giving him a headache and while he knew that only Kagome's soothing scent could cure such an ailment he would not go to her. No, he would give her her space and allow her to cool down. Leaning back against the God Tree he closed his eyes and willed his mind to shut down and allow him to relax. He would see her tomorrow, even if she didn't want to come back with him he would make her. She belonged to him and with her promise of staying with him he knew she would eventually come back. She never broke a promise, like the one that she had made when she had broken the Shikon no Tama. That made him smile slightly as he thought of the small slip of a girl he had first met had been so determined to right the wrong she had done so that no one would have to suffer from her error.

She was just that kind of girl, no, woman, she was a woman now and a selfless one at that. Another trait that had drawn him to her. She was so fierce and yet so tame, so gentle in the way that she acted at times. It was a strange mixture, but he loved her for that even if he could never admit such feelings. She would be disgusted with him, a Hanyou, having any such feelings toward her. The desire to be with her way stronger than the way he had felt about the older Miko. He had loved her, in some way, but that was a different kind of love he held for the Miko from the future. The headache seemed to grow stronger with his thoughts so again he thought to blank his mind and relax as he listened to the world around him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kagome was just getting out of her bath, after staying in until the water grew cold and she had scrubbed every part of her body to rid herself of any scent left on her. She hadn't thought much of it, the scent of another male on her, at the time of her hot soak in the springs, but upon getting home she realized that she would smell of the one who she had laid with and Inuyasha would smell it too if he had gotten too close to her. That bothered her since she didn't want anyone, save for her mother, to know of her impurity. That was another thing...her purity... would her having sex take her powers away? Could she still hunt the shards as she had been before? Could she purify those same shards? So many worries that weighed her down with their negative connotations. She knew that if that were the case then Inuyasha would want to know why she couldn't do what she had been doing for so long now that it was just second nature. After all, she had trained with Kaede and Miroku to be able to harness that power! If she lost that ability then she was nothing, not a shard detector anymore and not a Miko. It would have all been a waste of her to learn to control those powers and the pair of friends would have wasted their time helping her.

Those thoughts alone made her tear up, her vision blurring as she climbed out of her bath, the water draining just another background noise as she headed for the sanctuary of her room. As she was passing the mirror on the wall of the bathroom she stopped, her eyes widening at the mark on her neck, something she hadn't noticed when taking note of all the marks on her pale skin. "What the fuck is that?!" she screeched, her cry of confusion causing her mother to rush to her side with worry. When she burst into the room she found her daughter clutching the edge of the counter, her fingers clutching the sink so hard that her knuckles were turning white with the force she was exerting. She seemed to realize that her mother was there, her own brown eyes wide at the look of confusion, fear and other emotions that seemed to override each other in turn. She looked back at the mirror, her own eyes looking at the mark on her neck...the fang marks that were reminiscent of the mark of a vampire, but she knew that there were no vampires in the feudal ear and that those marks could only belong to a demon. They had fangs to do such damage, but while her mind was trying to process that she just couldn't seem to figure out who would have left those on her and what they meant!

Inuyasha wasn't the one that did that! No, he wanted Kikyo and would never bed her in such a way and if he had he would have said something to her that morning, but the only words he had spoken had been snarky. He had groused about her bathes and nothing else. He hadn't acted like someone who had taken her...like a lover would do, but she had no other thought as to who could have done this and it was driving her mad. "What's wrong, Kagome?" her mother inquired, her eyes taking in all the marks on her child's body, the large bite on her neck, and the fear and worry that intermingled in her wide chocolate eyes. "What is that?" Kagome looked at her mother, tears falling quicker than before as she fell to her knees. What had happened last night? Who had been her sexual partner and why couldn't she remember any of it?! Her mother gathered her into her arms, her body feeling so numb with all the thoughts that were rushing thru her head again, another headache that she wasn't ready to deal with. After getting her daughter to bed she covered her up before leaving for a moment, Kagome laying there in shock as to all the shameful things she had done in the last 24 hours. It was all too much and she felt her heart clench. Before she could blink her mother was back wtih a glass of water and a pill, both of them thrust into her hands after she was forced to sit up. "It will help you sleep, and trust me Kagome, you need to sleep." Kagome nodded, her body doing what one does automatically when handed those two items. She took them, downing the water before handing it to her mother.

Reaching over her her mother turned on the radio, a soft song playing in the otherwise silent room.

I'm sitting here alone up in my room  
I'm thinking 'bout the times that we've been through, oh, my love

Her mother moved to make her more comfortable, pulling the sheets up over her small shaking form. Kissing her daughter on the forehead with a whispered. "I love you. It'll be okay." Moving away from her side she went to the open window and after locking it, pulled the curtains closed, she turned to leave her daughter to the darkness hoping that it would help her to relax enough to sleep.

I'm looking at a picture in my hand  
Trying my best to understand

As the door closed behind her mother Kagome lay there, looking up at the ceiling and pondered what she would have to do now. Could she even go back to the feudal era with this mark on her neck? Yes, she could. Would it matter if she did go back, if her powers didn't work? Yes, yes it would. She would be useless, but there was no way to test that now, her body was feeling heavy from the pill her mother had given her. The words of the song just a distant sound that seemed muffled as it continued to play in the dark.

I really wanna know what we did wrong  
With a love that felt so strong

She scoffed as her eyes lowered, their weight making it impossible for her to keep them open. Love? Love was a fool's wish. You know the old saying, "You make plans and Kami laughs"? She knew he must be on his ass right then, laughing at all that she was going thru. She couldn't even get the love she wanted, not now and not before. It was all too far away and now, with her being used goods...Well, no one who would want her mattered anyway. She could love no one else the way she loved Inuyasha and that was what hurt. He had ruined her for anyone...not in the sense that she had allowed herself to be ruined. Finally her brain began to shut down as her body relaxed and her mind quieted all of its fruitless thoughts.

If only you were here tonight  
I know that we could make it right  
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The next morning the woman from the future was told by her mother that it would be a week before she could get seen by the doctor and although Kagome understood this she knew that Inuyasha wouldn't. There was the real dilemma and while Kagome was still too ashamed to leave her house, much less leave her bed, she didn't want to see the male that she was sure would try to take her back. She wasn't in the mood to deal with the Hanyou or her friends on the other side of the well. She didn't even want to see her friends in this time either.

"Kagome, I know that you feel bad about what happened, but your friends won't look at you any differently," her mother stated as she sat down on the edge of her daughter's bed, but the young woman in question wasn't budging on her decision. She would rather just wait in her time until the doctor's appointment in the next seven days than deal with whatever was outside the house. Making her point she rolled over in her bed and waiting until her mother finally left to allow herself to cry. She was so mad at herself and yet in her mind she was feeling angry at her friends. The ones that should have at least kept an eye on her like good friends did! She had felt like their group had become more like a family in the time they had spent together, but family didn't just let one member go off and fuck up their life. In the back of her mind she knew that she wasn't being rational, but she didn't care at that moment. She had had sex with someone, possibly a demon, and now she was no longer pure. She hadn't tried to use her powers yet, for fear that they were gone and what she had heard from Kaede that Miko were not to have sex or marry because it was believed that their powers would fade.

It struck her in that moment that it was a belief of the era and that Kaede had not said it was a proven fact. If that were true than it might be possible that she still had her powers, but even knowing there was a small chance that she would be able to use her powers she still felt afraid to try and fail. Closing her eyes she willed herself to sleep unaware that just outside her window in the well house a blast of power burst forward to allow the very male she didn't want to talk into her time.

Inuyasha moved across the pavement with ease, silent as he scented out the very woman he had come to retrieve. She wasn't going to stay in her time for forever and even if she tried he would just drag her back kicking and screaming. He was willing to come and get her in a nice way, just this once, but if she refused his summons than he wouldn't play nice with her. Looking up at her window he could smell her and at the scent of tears, anger and...shame he wrinkled his nose in confusion. What the hell is going on with this female? Jumping up he knocked on the window before pushing against it only to find that it wouldn't budge. Narrowing his gaze in a mixture of confusion and mild anger he growled at her thru the window, "I know you're in there, wench! Open up this window!" There was no response from her but he couldn't tell if she were asleep or not, not being so far from her, but he doubted that after his knocking or yelling that she wouldn't have woken up. The door below him creaked open, the smell of her mother hitting his nose and he was surprised to find a sadness in her scent. Was something wrong with the woman that had become more than just a travelling companion?

"Inuyasha," her mother called to him, her tone hushed as if to keep secret or to keep from waking someone up and that was curious to him. Looking once more at the window, the pink curtains of Kagome's room un-moving, he decided that maybe she was really asleep so he jumped down to her mother. When he saw the look in her eyes, those eyes just a tint different than the young woman who lay in her room, those eyes that were just as expressive as Kagome's were, he knew something was wrong. She led him away from the house, his golden gaze looking once more back up at Kagome's closed window. That in itself was unusual since he had never in the time he had known the future born Miko had ever had the window locked on him nor the the sheets that covered said window drawn closed. As soon as they stood before his tree, the God Tree swaying in the light breeze that blew thru the area. "Kagome will not be coming back to your time, at least not for another week." He opened his mouth to say something, but he had respect for the older female and knew that something had happened to cause her mother to refuse to allow the Miko to come back with him and while he was angry he remembered how much his own mother had done to protect him when he had been younger. "It's not that I don't trust you or any of the others, but Kagome came back yesterday and something..." she faded off, as if she couldn't think of what to say to him. "Something is wrong with her and while she has given me some of the details she doesn't want to reveal too much. You know how Kagome is," she said with a sad smile.

He sure did and while it had drawn him to her he knew that she hated to burden others with something that bothered her. It was like that with him leaving their group to talk with Kikyo. She never let him know how it bothered her, but she was an open book when it came to her eyes, as if she didn't even realize it...or maybe she did and that was why the happy female never looked at him when she was sad, putting on that overly bright smile thinking that it fooled any of them. "So, then it's her that doesn't want to come back?" he asked, trying not to sound so upset, but he could hear his voice crack at the thought that she didn't care enough about him to come back. She had made a promise to him and she wasn't one to break promises so he found that her willingness to forgo coming back very worrisome.

"Again, it's only for a week. I want her to go to a doctor and have her checked out," she whispered, her words relaying a silent request not to ask anymore of her because she wouldn't be able to give it to him. He nodded and rushed off to his time to relay the information he had been given and knew that it wouldn't be enough for their friends...It wasn't enough for him.


	4. Chapter 4

Jumping out of the well, the Hanyou rushed off to their friends. He was still unsure of what the feeling was that crept in at the words that Kagome's mother had said. She hadn't said it specifically he felt that he was the cause of this sudden strange attitude from the normally happy Miko. She wasn't one to seclude herself unless, like her mother said, she was in need of a doctor. Maybe she didn't want to get them sick and that's why she refused to come back. There had been that one time when she had fallen ill in his time and it had gotten so bad that she had to go back to her time.

And even then she still tried to do that school shit she's always so worried about. He didn't get it. She was too sick to fight alongside him, but not to sick for something that held no meaning, at least not in his time. She hadn't been happy about being stuck in her time and he knew that she didn't like to leave them hanging, but she had said that in her time it was very important to get her schooling done. Thankfully, this last year she had done what she called "homeschooling" and while she still had to do her work, tests and all, but she didn't have to go to school. As long as she got her work done, early or not, she was passing her classes. That was one less thing to irritate him since he wasn't really all that happy to let her go back to her time for something he still deemed as useless. Maybe it was because of that promise she had made, the one that she appeared to be ready to break, about staying with him. What would this schooling be worth in his time? Shaking those thoughts to the side he decided to think about that for another time.

"Where is she?!" came a cry from the small kitsune that barreled into him, his head striking the Hanyou's gut. Letting out a surprised 'ooph' he grabbed the small fox by his fluffy orange tinted tail. "Why didn't you bring her back?!" He was starting to grate on the older male's nerves, his squeal of anguish hurting his ears. The small appendages flattened to his head at the sound.

"Silence, kid," he hissed as the other two from their group came out from Kaede's hut just a few yards in front of him. The older Miko stepped out behind them, looking rather worried herself at the fact that Kagome wasn't with him. It wasn't very often that when he went to her world to get her that he failed to return her to their time and the look on his face didn't help matters.

"Ah, so Lady Kagome will return later then?" Miroku asked, sure that it was another spat and that Kagome had probably sat him until he gave in and left her behind in a huff. The pair were always feuding with each other, whether it was because of her temper or his, it didn't matter what. They seemed to get a long in a way, their arguments just part of their relationship...though neither seemed aware of the other's actual feelings. He had wanted to point it out, to stop all the bickering, but Sango had told him not to. It wouldn't help if they pushed the two together, no, it would only serve to make it way more awkward than it needed to be for the pair. It was best if they figured it out on their own while the only other adults in the group helped it from getting too out of control. Inuyasha shrugged, not knowing himself and that made the monk worried, Sango raising a brow in confusion while Kaede almost chocked on the tears that threatened. "What do you mean?"

"Kagome went back to her time and told her mother something that apparently had happened the other day, ya know, at that celebration." They all nodded. Yeah, they all remembered the celebration, well, two people had no inkling what their night had entailed, but no one needed to know that. Inuyasha wasn't aware that he was alone in his missing time frames from that night, but while his friends were aware of his unknown sexual partner they were not aware that he didn't remember any of that night after he started drinking. "Well, whatever it was Kagome has refused to come back for now and will be going to the doctor in a weeks time to find out why she's acting so strange. Her mother even said she had to sedate her." That bit of information was startling to him and he thought that maybe that's why she had moved far from her daughter's room. Maybe Kagome hadn't wanted her mother to tell him all that she had and with her worried about her child's state of mind or maybe something was wrong with her body, she had wanted him to know how bad it might be.

"She was rather distraught over her clothing," Sango pointed out, recalling how distraught the girl had appeared when she had taken the clothing. "In fact she had gotten out of the water, but I never got a look to see why the clothing I brought was so bad." Miroku looked thoughtful. He could remember vaguely what the Miko had been wearing when she had come into the room, but not in full detail as he was rather fearful of his life at her display of open rage. He knew that she was powerful, but he had never seen her power warp out of her body like that, as if it were a bomb detonating around her form.

"She was wearing something she usually reserves for the colder weather," Shippo stated. All eyes turned to him. "You know, that turtle shirt or whatever it's called."

"Ah, her turtle neck," the monk stated. He had remembered her bringing some of her time's clothing choices since the weather had become cooler at night. While the temperature had been dropping with fall just around the corner that morning hadn't been particularly cool in anyway. The rains that fell around their area kept the cold at bay for another few weeks, at least until winter blew stronger and overtook the land with snows. They hadn't really been finding any shards in the last few weeks, but then again after having come across Naraku just a few weeks past to witness the size of his portion of the jewel as he gloated about his soon to be completed jewel. That had led them to believe that the jewel was complete for the most part, in their portion and his being all that was left. Kagome had been their means of looking for the shards, but even with that task complete she was still needed to purify the jewel. Kikyo could have done it, but the dead Miko wasn't a friend of the group, still staying out of their sights unless she wanted something or she called for the Hanyou. The last time any of them had heard from the Miko she had required Kagome's assistance in surviving the wound from Naraku's miasma.

"You don't think she was attacked, do you?" Sango asked, though if she had none of them had been aware of any evil lurking on the grounds of the residence they had been resting at. "Now, that I think about it, Kagome had been acting weird yesterday. In fact she said something about that night, that she didn't even know how she had ended up at the hot springs." That rose the brows on all of the faces before her, but the look that was most curious was Inuyasha's. His face paled, his golden eyes growing wide but then narrowing down as if something strange occurred to him. Sango's own eyes narrowed. "What's that look about?" He seemed to realize that she was talking to him and with a shake of his head he blew her off, turning away from her piercing gaze.

She wasn't at the spring this morning, he thought to himself. She hadn't been there when he had woken up...he had been alone, he was sure of that so why had she said she had ended up there without any knowledge of getting there. That made no sense for her to lie about her whereabouts, at least not to them. They were her friends and it's not like they would have hu- Oh, shit! Yeah, he had humiliated her with his talking, that anger she had felt had been humiliation and maybe another emotion as he had been too frozen to really sniff out her emotions all that clearly. "Uh, I plan on going back in a week to see how her appointment went, but while we wait for her I guess we can check for any leads on where Naraku is." While it was true that now one had seen the spider demon for weeks it didn't mean he was dead. No, it was more than likely he was waiting for the opportune time to strike and with Kagome on the other side of the well with whatever was ailing her they were in a tight spot, almost like sitting ducks for him to swipe at.

"We really could use her right about now," Sango stated sadly. She was the glue that held the group together and she was also the one that could see the shards so they would need her to target where the dark Hanyou was hiding out. Truly they could do nothing but ask around and if that didn't pan out then they were stuck waiting for Kagome to come back...if she came back. "I don't think she's going to abandon us." She voiced what everyone in the group was really worried about and not for the reason that most would think. Its not just because she was the one that could find the shards, but she was their friend and whenever she had to go to her side of the well she was missed by all.

"How about we make her a get well note!" Shippo suggested. "We could let her know we are thinking of her and miss her!" It was a great suggestion, but as the others turned to head back to the hut where the little kitsune kept his art supplies that Kagome had kept him stocked with the soul collectors appeared. There were only two this time, the serpentine like creatures swirling overhead, but well where Inuyasha could see them. This time he hesitated in going to his past love's side, torn between being here with his friends or going to her, the one that wanted his soul when she finally went to Hell. He wasn't even sure he was going to go with her when it was time for her to leave this world. He didn't want to go with her anymore and that was Kagome's fault as much as his own. She had made him see sense and that he shouldn't have to shoulder the responsibility for something he was not responsible for, but she was also the one that had made him feel more comfortable in his own skin. He hadn't felt that since his own mother. It had him reflecting on how different the two woman in his life truly were. Sure, he had been mistaken when he first saw her and her smell had been similar to the now dead Miko's but they were like the sun and the moon in the way they not only treated him, but those around them. Kagome drew people to her in a way that Kikyo never could with her indifference. Even though they both were powerful in their own right and Miko's to boot there was a different way they went about using said powers.

He looked back at the group having not noticed the presence of the soul collectors and decided that he would ignore the Miko for now. Once the group had given him the letters for their friend on the other side of the well he would be here to deliver them rather than causing more trouble in the group. When he followed them tho the soul collector followed him, almost intent on getting him in trouble either way as it slid toward the hut to announce its presence. Huffing at the pushy way Kikyo was acting using said collector he turned and headed toward where the other one waited. It was like she knew he wouldn't want his friends to see the reason he was leaving them behind and since that was indeed the case he rushed off before they could catch him and so he could get this over with and back to the group.

Finally coming across the woman who had called him he could see that she appeared hurt and angry that he had not come at her summons, that she had had to make him come when in the past he had come with no hesitation. It's that girl's fault. My copy has his heart when it should be mine! The dead Miko was quite upset, but clearing her features of all emotion she approached him, reaching out to grasp him in a hug. He allowed her that courtesy, but he was tense thru the whole exchange and that only seemed to fuel her anger.

"What is it, Kikyo?" he bit out, trying to be polite to the Miko before him, but he felt that each time since that night she had been healed by Kagome that she wasn't calling him for any other reason than to bother the other Miko. She wasn't telling him anything new about Naraku so she was only staking claim on him, trying to force him to be with her in a way that was making him uncomfortable. Kagome had never done that, making him choose between hanging out with their group, with her, or going to Kikyo when she called him. No, she held her tongue, telling him it was fine and that the other woman needed him. She didn't look him in the eyes anymore when she said it either and the waves of guilt and sadness ate at him as he disappeared to see the dead woman. "Is it news on Naraku's whereabouts? Or a new demon he had sent on the rampage?" She looked at him, her eyes narrowing.

"Do you not love me anymore, Inuyasha?" He looked mildly surprised at her question. She had never really asked him point blank about his feelings for her other than the first time she had appeared to him, dragging him down to hell with her...or at least trying because Kagome had stopped him. She had watched the whole thing and although she seemed rather upset at that moment she had claimed only to having witnessed the entirety of what had happened between me and Kikyo and that she felt lonely. There had not been a day that I had not wondered as to what had happened that night. I had some memories, but upon hearing Kagome's voice calling to me I found myself in a hole and said Miko sitting tied to a broken tree that had not been broken when I had first entered the clearing. Kikyo had not tried to kill her at that time, that was one thing I was sure of, though the dead Miko did attempt it once so long ago. Kagome would not fill me in on that night, what transpired between her and Kikyo and what I had missed in my blackout. Kaede had admitted to me that her sister had visited that same night, asking about Naraku and mentioning the future born Miko as well. She seemed upset that Kagome had healed him when she hadn't even been given a chance, but that wasn't entirely true either. With Kagome I had almost instantly fallen under her spell, her friendship easy to accept even when I had denied it. Maybe it was because of Kikyo, but I highly doubt it even now.

"I-I don't think that our love was ever meant to last," he said softly, sadly. "We never fully accepted each other and although our love wasn't one born of passion but of a feeling of needed companionship, I feel that all I truly owe you is one debt." She looked sadly at him, the fire of anger still burning brightly in her eyes. "Revenge for the both of us. For your untimely death and for the loss of what probably would have never been a happy union." It made no sense and it made so much sense. He didn't love her like he did the younger Miko. She didn't come to him because of loneliness, since she made friends no matter where she was, and she wasn't looking to change him, because she loved who he was, even if it was in friendship. He felt so stupid for all the things he had done to hurt her all this time, but he didn't regret that she had wanted to stay with him. She had asked to stay with him and he had allowed it...she had wanted it and he hadn't been able to let her go. He had thought his heart lay with the woman before him, but even if she had held it at one point it had never been true love for him.

"You don't love her, Inuyasha," she spat. "She's just my copy and even if she is willing to lay with you she will never stay with you!" She was pissed off, knowing that if she could make him doubt his affections for the girl, belittle those affections. "After all, why would she want to lay with someone who would be scorned for laying with a Hanyou? A demon would be just as bad and that would defile her! She would be tainted for all to mock or worse," she said, letting the words sink into his brain, into his heart and he knew that she was right. Kikyo had only wanted him to be human for that reason as well. She would not have just been defiled by allowing him to possess her body, heart and soul as even a half demon. He had to be human, but Kagome had never asked him to do that while Kikyo had. Maybe she really had loved him and he was just confused by her warm nature. After all, she only loved him as a friend, never asking for more. Kikyo felt that victory was close. He would relent to her and stay with her. The reincarnation would not interfere. Yes, she knew that Kagome loved him and not in the fashion as he thought she did. No, Kagome loved him as more than a friend and while Inuyasha was blinded to it she was not! She knew that his love for her had been taken by that bitch and she wouldn't allow it to stay with Kagome. Inuyasha left her, walked away without a word and while the Miko was rather upset with his departure she knew that the seed she had planted was taking root and soon it would fester until the Hanyou came back to her, came with her down to hell upon the death of Naraku.

She would allow him to do that one thing since she wanted Naraku's death as well...


	5. Chapter 5

A week later found the sad Miko more anxious than ever, her mind still on the fact that she had allowed herself to become tainted. That was how she felt on that subject and even after her mother had assured her that she had done something that all teenagers did at one point or another she still couldn't let it go. She had never truly felt like a regular teenager, nor had she felt as she had ever been a normal child. She could recall all the torment she had endured as a child, having a strange power that all the kids in her time had been afraid of and yet they had wanted her to show it to them, chasing her all over until she had gone into her home to hide from their jeering. Sitting in the large waiting room she kept her head down, refusing to look at all the others that were in the space with her. She just wanted this to be over with and yet she didn't want to be here either. She felt the urge to run, to pretend that this hadn't happened, but her mother was right and she couldn't escape what she had done and she also needed to make sure that whomever she had slept with hadn't given her something to remember them by. She needed to be healthy after all, to fight against Naraku. They had found all the shards, they were sure of this because of the dark Hanyou had shown his hand, flashing his portion of the Shikon no Tama, cocky that they would never succeed in removing it from his grasp.

They still had more to do, Kohaku was still missing after all and no one was even sure he was alive. Naraku hadn't said anything about the young male slayer. She felt bad for her sister, felt that it was unfair that even she could not get what she longed for besides her monk and that had happened. She felt that had she not done what she had done that night she would have found out why her friend had been so happy, but no, she had fled in shame. Afraid that her friends would disown her for allowing such a thing to happen and that was something she couldn't allow to happen. No, she had to flee and now she wasn't even sure if she wanted to go back. "Kagome Higurashi!" came a call from her right, her mother touching her shoulder to get her attention. She started at the contact as the nurse in front of her called out her name again. Grimacing at what was to come she stood up, her mother following behind her as they went to the room the nurse led them to. She still felt that urge to flee, to forget about all the stuff that had happened, but her mother, as if feeling the waves of fear coming from her daughter, moved to hold her hand as they entered the small room. "Wait here and the doctor will be with you shortly."

"It'll be okay, sweetheart," her mother said soothingly. She tried to take in that energy that her mother was trying to send to her, but looking at the bed where she was to lay down just made her more nervous. It had stirrups on the end of the bed, her mother having told her a bit of what they would do since she was sexually active. Not that she planned on ever doing that again! "It'll be uncomfortable, but they need to check you and then they will be drawing blood." She also knew they would be asking rather embarrassing questions that she was not willing to answer or in her case, some that she could not answer. The nurse returned with a hospital gown, handing it to her mother when Kagome couldn't seem to bring herself to touch it at the moment. Even after the nurse left and her mother had handed her the gown she still couldn't seem to function. It was like her brain couldn't process what she was about to do, as if doing it made the act itself real. It was real no matter what she chose to do and finally with a sigh she went behind the curtain and changed into the gown, its texture rubbing her the wrong way as she crawled up onto the bed before her. Her brown eyes eyed the stirrups with a wariness that her mother could see from her spot in the only chair besides the doctors small stool that sat on the other side of the bed.

It felt like forever, sitting there in that cold room, the smells of the hospital filling the air around them. She could hear the other patients in the rooms next to hers, their voices low, but she could still hear them and the intercom as it buzzed with names being called, doctors going about their business. Growing up she hadn't really had to worry about the hospital as she had been a pretty healthy kid and even as a child, but as a teenager she hadn't had to go at all since she was mostly over on the other side with her friends. It's not to say she hadn't been hurt, but they had been minor scratches for the most part since her friends protected her at all costs and now she could return that kindness. She could protect them from the knowledge that she had failed in her Miko role by having sex with someone. She could keep that to herself and when she found time alone with Kaede she could ask her for help. Not that she was sure if her powers were gone but it was a thought that had been instilled since she was told about her powers and she had been a virgin during that time. She was just too afraid to know.

"Ah, Kagome Higurashi?" came a voice, a woman walking into the room with a clipboard, her fingers shifting thru the papers on it. "My name is Doctor Goto. You're here for the pap smear, the tests for both stds and pregnancy?" At that lost word her eyes grew wide and her mind seemed to short circuit at the thought that she could have fallen pregnant to that one night.

"Um, those first two," she said, her voice so soft that the doctor might not have heard her, but she did and looked down at the papers. "It was only the one time..." she faded off, looking down at her hands that were gripping tightly to the gown just over her stomach as it lurched with the thought that they would think she was pregnant. "I would know if I was." The doctor looked to her mother and Mama Higurashi agreed with what the notes said. That she would be getting all three things that day whether her daughter wanted them or not. It was better to be aware of all that could have happened from that one night.

"Your mother is the one that makes that decision, Miss Higurashi," the doctor said, taking a tone that would brook no argument, but even then Kagome shot her mother of look to say otherwise. The look her mother gave her spoke volumes, things that couldn't be said in the presence of the doctor. "Just think about it," the woman continued. "If you were pregnant and something happened that cost you your life?" That made the girl on the bed blanch further, the fact that if she had fallen pregnant was bad enough, but that it could cost her her life. Hell, being pregnant would more than likely be far worse for her even if it didn't cost her her life. She was supposed to fight against Naraku soon and a pregnancy would definitely get in the way of that and it would cause her friends to have to fight harder to protect her. "And the sooner we find out the sooner you can choose to either keep the baby or not." The way the doctor said it made tears come to her life. It was just so clinical. No breaking the ice before announcing such a thing...just keep it or not. As much as she didn't want to be pregnant she knew that she wouldn't kill a baby. She knew most people would give anything to have a child and if she was pregnant than she would give someone that gift of life.

"Okay," she muttered.  
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That night Inuyasha found himself at the edge of the well, waiting for Kagome to come back, to know if all was alright on her end. Was she sick? Was she not coming back today even though her mother had said that Kagome just wasn't coming back for that week so she could go to the doctor? Where is she? He was beginning to grow more upset and more worried every second that passed, but he just couldn't bring himself to go to her side. He didn't know why, but he couldn't bring himself to jump into the well. Maybe it was that fear that she wasn't okay...that something over here had done something to her and he hadn't even been aware of her being hurt. She had said nothing to anyone. She always did this! She didn't hide her injuries, but she did try to power thru them until someone figured it out and made her spill the beans. She always brushed off her own problems, forging on as though nothing was wrong. The only times she had opened up to anyone had been with Sango...and she hadn't even confided this to her. That was really what worried him the most at this moment. If she couldn't confide in someone she always confided in then it had to be bad.

"Still no sign of her?" came Sango's question from the darkness as she walked up to stand near the well, her own brown eyes reflecting the worry that the whole group was feeling. Inuyasha shot her a look, a glare at her question.

"Yeah, she's here, just sitting on the edge of the well," he snapped. "Can't you see her?" Sango bristled at his words, but made herself calm down because she knew how the Hanyou felt about the Miko from the future and since he wasn't one to show what most demons considered a weakness she let it go, but she still let him know that he was wrong to snap at her.

"You know we are all worried about her, right?" They had all sent letters to her, get well cards that had been given to her mother to give Kagome, but she had yet to send anything back. Another worry that clouded his mind, made him snap twice as quickly because it felt like she was pulling away from them. Her mother had tried to sooth him with words that she was just in a funk now, that she hadn't said much to her either after that first night. He had asked if she had been eating and taking care of herself and her mother had looked fretful, sad too. "It's just not like her to withdraw from us, but to do that to her mother is cruel." Inuyasha agreed with the assessment, but at the same time he worried that there was more to this and her mother knew something that was causing the young woman to act like she was. Her mother had said that female teenagers were prone to be moody and soon she would be fine. Even she didn't seem to believe her words because the anxiety that he had was nothing to the waves of it that which oozed of her mother.

"Feh," was all he said as he looked back into the darkness of the well, debating on whether to give her another day even though he had told the group he planned on going back that very night. Would she come back on her own or would he even get to see her. Sango shook her head at his downtrodden look and decided to give him time alone again. He had been so temperamental and while it wasn't something new on a certain level, his worry for the female on the other side of the well it was understandable that he would lash out. I just want to hold her close, to smell her scent... He wanted to make sure that she was really okay and the simple fact that her scent had a calming effect on his demon was just another reason she had to come back to him. Yeah, it was selfish and while the words that Kikyo had said the other day still replayed in his mind he still found that he didn't care if she would never allow him to be what he wanted to be with her. He just wanted her back. Was that too much to ask?

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On the other side of the well, Kagome lay in her bed, her body still on edge and unwilling to go to sleep. Everything that day had been stressful and when it was all said and done she was good. No signs of anything from the pap smear, no stds from the unplanned activities and no pregnancy. Everything was good, but she couldn't seem to get over it, to be happy that her one time of sex hadn't left her with any of the side effects or a pregnancy that would only cause issues with her fighting on the other side of the well. The Fuedal Era... That was the issue now though. Should she go back? She couldn't try her powers here since it might cause problems for her family should she attract something unknown like the Noh Mask that one time. Sure, it had been because of the shards that she held in her possession, but who knew if there were demons in her time period? Whose to say that just because she had never felt one that they didn't exist in her time. After all, Inuyasha himself was well over 200 years old and she was sure that Sesshomaru was at least 500 or more since he was the older of the two. That meant that there could still be demons lurking in her time.

Sighing again she recalled the talk she had had with her mother the first night she had come home and the fact that her mother was now upset, sad that her daughter would not talk to her further. She hadn't told her mother everything, not why she had been so upset about her losing her virginity. It was because of a certain male in her life, one that even if he had never expressed an affection for her more than that of a friend that she hadn't wanted anyone else to take her virginity. Even if she never had sex she would have been fine because she didn't want anyone the way she wanted Inuyasha. Her feelings for him went beyond a simple crush as she had thought it in the beginning. She knew it was love and that love was unrequited. She would just have to sleep on it, if she could sleep. Closing her eyes again and rolling onto her side facing the wall she willed her body to sleep, refusing to take the sleep time medicine that her mother had given her the first night. Then again she had refused a lot of stuff from her mother, but her mother didn't know that she didn't eat her food. No, she threw it away those first two days at least, then she had eaten a few of the meals before just all together refusing to eat all that her mother had prepared. She knew that it hurt her mother's feelings, but like her her mother never said a word in anger. She never berated her daughter for refusing the meals, even though she still pleading softly for her daughter to eat the meals.

She didn't even eat today and although her stomach was now angry with her for her lack of substance she just curled up tighter to make it muffled to her hearing. As she lay there, the stillness of the night making her feel even more alone a tap on the glass of her window made her jump. She didn't even get up, nor did she look at the window. Maybe if I lay here he will go away. The lights were off and no one but her was awake, her eyes closing tightly with a hope that if she tried she could force herself to go to sleep.

"Kagome," came his soft voice, and she had to hold back her whimper at the sadness of his tone, the fact that he was so melancholy sounding making her feel even more guilty. She couldn't stand the fact that she felt she had betrayed him with another male, but to think that he was sad because she hadn't gone back home in those seven days. Her mother had informed him of her need to stay in her time for now, but he must have gotten tired of waiting. Maybe it was all in her head, his sad tone...He was usually more upset when she was gone because it put them behind in collecting shards, but there were no more shards so why was he in such a rush to have her back? To fight Naraku? They hadn't heard from him in a while so that couldn't be it. How could they fight something that they couldn't find? No, there was no reason for him to come back for her now. "Kagome, I know you're awake. Please let me in." That was shocking to her as well, his requesting something instead of demanding it. She was curious now and also she didn't want him to wake up the rest of the family so she got up, making sure that her body was covered from neck to ankle before she approached the window. Flicking on her desk lamp she opened the curtains to look out at the Hanyou of her desires. He was looking at her, his golden orbs so soft in the darkness behind him. The lamp on the desk wasn't super bright, so there wasn't much it illuminated save for the desk and a few inches behind it.

He waited for her to open the window, to allow him in, but she just stared at him for a moment, as if she couldn't move. Again he said her name, a soft pleading sound that seemed to break her from her stupor. "Why are you here, Inuyasha?" As if she didn't know! He wanted her to come back, but she didn't know if she could.

"Kagome, let me in." When she shook her head, his eyes narrowed, but not in anger, no it was frustration. "Why not?" She couldn't give him an answer at that moment, not one that he would believe. He could always read her, he knew when she was lying or telling the truth. He knew her almost too well as she did him and yet, she finally came up with a response.

"Because I can't. I can't let you in." Was she talking about the room? She didn't know, but she couldn't do it. "I just can't..." she faded off as her voice cracked, her body seeming unable to handle the stress of her emotions and the lack of substance in her body, began to crumple.

The last thing she heard was the sound of glass breaking and Inuyasha's cry, "Kagome!" And then it was dark, nothingness overtook all her senses and she welcomed it with open arms.  
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	6. Chapter 6

When Kagome opened her eyes, the world around her blurry and soundless. Why was it so silent when she could slowly see that her mother was over her, talking to her while she just stared at them. Her mother's brow tensed in worry at the fact she was just zoning out, the confusion building in her eyes. Fear was starting to take over, her stomach lurching like it always seemed to do now. Was this what anxiety was? Did it just numb your senses and leave you with only a crippling feeling of fear? If this was what it felt like she could honestly say that she wanted no part of it!

"What's wrong with her?" Inuyasha asked, his golden orbs watching the girl before him stare blankly at her mother. She reeked of fear and confusion, one rising over the other one as time seemed to click by. Her mother said nothing, her eyes closing in silent prayer. Whatever had happened that night that her daughter had told her of, it was something that seemed to be holding her daughter in its throes...breaking her down slowly.

"She's having an attack," her mother stated. That word only seemed to rise the tension in his body, his muscles moving involuntarily into attack mode. Kagome was under attack? By whom? How could she be under attack when she was right here, in her time where nothing could harm her? Only in his time could that happen, hell, it had happened a few times! She had been strong enough to stop both attacks, not allowing the person controlling her to harm him! Kagome suddenly tensed, her eyes following her mother's line of sight, the fear rising so high that even her mother seemed to feel it as well. She turned from him, her cheeks growing hot as her hearing seemed to come back, her sight clearing up only to become hazy as hot tears fell down her cheeks.

"I-Inuyasha!" she cried, refusing to look at him now, as she felt his own confusion and worry with her raised aura. "I'm not ready to go back," she stated. "Maybe in a few days, but not right now. You need to leave." The hurt that he felt at those words made him feel weak, like he physically could not move, but as that hurt weakened him, his anger gave him strength and while it was good that he could move, his mouth should not have.

"Whatever, bitch," he spat to the horror of Kagome's mother and the young boy that peeked around the corner, his idol cracking right before his eyes. "Come back whenever you can." Those last words held no bite, but she felt the hurt in his tone, the fear almost tangible. It gave her strength as she turned and grasped his hand, her mouth open to speak, but nothing left her lips. Not a word formed into the air. He waited for what felt like forever for her to say something, but nothing came and he pulled his sleeve away from her pale grip before leaving her behind without a backwards glance. Kagome watched him go, her heart cracking more, his words far worse than the betrayal she felt she had dealt him. Even if was an imaginary betrayal to him as he knew nothing of her love for him, she felt it none the less. He was mad at her because she refused to come with him? How the fuck did he expect her to go back if she couldn't do anything anymore? Maybe that was the biggest fear she had because that meant that all her friends would send her home! They wouldn't let her stay because she would be a true burden. Of no use except to bring Ramen to Inuyasha, treats for Shippo...She was just a mule if that were the case. Carrying all this stuff from her time to his.

"Dear, I think you hurt his feelings," her mother said softly. "He wasn't going to take you home if you weren't ready." She looked up at her mother, seeing that her mother was torn because even though Inuyasha wasn't family he had integrated into their family with so little effort that he was part of their family...their home and yet he was wrong for what he had just done. The hurt in her daughter's eyes was still there, the fear pushed to the side. But, Kagome was wrong too. She hadn't thought about her friends and that wasn't something the girl before her had ever done! She wasn't perfect, but she did the right thing every time when it came to those whose love mattered to her. When she loved someone they were so important that she forgot her own needs and feelings, but those same friends gave just as much as they received so Kagome was always so happy. She never forsake a friend and for her to do that in this time and the time beyond the well, that wasn't her. That wasn't Kagome. "Kagome, I don't know why you are so afraid all the time now. I can't even grasp what would make my beautiful, bright daughter so unhappy and afraid of her own shadow, but I know that I don't like it."

"Mama?" Her mother held up her hand, silencing her daughter.

"You act like the world has ended because of what you did, but I can't understand why it's so devastating when you just made a mistake. People make those every day. I did the same thing when I was younger." Her mother blushed softly as she appeared to be remembering how she had done a similar mistake. "I was a little older than you and me and some friends snuck out late one night," she said quietly. "We went out to the woods and one of my friends had brought a bottle of sake from their parent's..." she faded off with a shrug. "I learned my lesson. I was lucky because your father was there with me that night. He was my first, but it wasn't what we planned to do that night and probably wouldn't have if we hadn't drunk that sake." She could see what her mother was trying to say to her, but her mother's story was different from her own. She had known who she was and even luckier still was they loved each other. Her mother hadn't done what she had done. "Yes, it isn't the same, I know that, but I felt the shame you are feeling now. In fact, you are lucky that you live in this time because in my time there was hell to pay and in this case I think you have felt that hell...might be in it for a while, but know this my daughter. You have wonderful friends, in both eras, and they won't condemn you to the stake for making a mistake." Looking down she knew that even if what her mother said might be true she wouldn't be telling anyone anything anytime soon.

"Mama, I want to go back, but I just...I just don't know what will happen when I go over there." Her mother's brows raised in confusion.

"What will happen? I don't understand what will change with you having sex?" Kagome's eyes widened as she looked around, worried that Inuyasha might still be close enough hear them.

"Mama! Shhhh!" she cried and that was what finally clued her in to what the real issue was here. Her daughter didn't want Inuyasha to know that she hadn't been able to give him her gift. No, she had given it without even realizing it in a night that she couldn't remember.

"Oh, honey, nothing will change and you don't have to tell anyone yet. Just work it out when it's time to cross that bridge." Her daughter's face grew a brighter red with each passing second, with each word that passed her mother's lips.

"Oh mama! Not that! No, Miko's can't have sex or they lose their powers!" she quietly squealed in frustration. Now her mother looked like she got it, her mouth forming into an 'o' at those words. "If I go and I've lost my powers than how do I help? They wouldn't want me to stay if I didn't have my powers!" Her mother shook her head at her daughter's worries about why her friends stayed with her.

"Okay, first things first. How will you know if that is even true if you don't try?" She didn't even have to add why she knew that Kagome wouldn't do it here. She knew why. "And your friends are your friends no matter what you can do! Even if they send you back here, and I don't think they would do that unless they thought that you were in real danger. Even if you didn't have your powers I doubt they would exclude you from being there to help them or to spend time with them when they're not fighting. From what you've told me and from what I can tell when Inuyasha is here, I get the feeling that even he wouldn't refuse you time on the other side. And besides, didn't you make a promise to fix the jewel?" Kagome nodded. Yeah, she had done that. "Would it be fair with how close you are to completing that goal that you would leave them to finish what you did all that time ago?" With that said, she turned to leave, but threw one more thing her daughter's way. "You could do either, but which one could you live with?"  
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Inuyasha had been, thankfully for Kagome's sake, on the other side of the well, in his tree looking at the well in anger, his eyes burning imaginary holes in the wooden structure. He hated that well sometimes. He hated that it kept taking Kagome back to the other side where she was several hundred years away from him. She wasn't really that far away thanks to that same well, but he could feel the difference having been on that side. The differences in their worlds was so astronomical when you knew what the future had in store. Would any demons be on that side in that future or would humans have eradicated their very existence? Chuckling darkly at those bleak thoughts. Would it matter in those hundreds of years if all of his kind were gone? Wouldn't that be better for Kagome's people? If they didn't exist than creatures like Naraku wouldn't arise and cause destruction. Why am I thinking about this? Why was he thinking about this? Shaking his head he suddenly found his nose assaulted by a scent, a scent so calming and so wonderful that he thought maybe he was imagining it since she had said she wasn't ready. Blinking he watched as the very woman whom he had been thinking of crawled out the well, her raven hair blowing softly in the winds that rustled the green leaves of the forest. She was back, and while she still smelled like fear and shame that mixed with her natural scent he was happy to see her.

She crawled out as he watched her stop and sit down on the lip of the well. He could hear the deep breaths that she took, her body shaking softly. "Okay, I can do this," she whispered as she closed her eyes. Inuyasha wondered what she was doing, why she wasn't going to the village...It was too dangerous to be out in the night with Naraku MIA at the moment. He could be waiting for this very moment to happen so he could get the young girl and she wasn't even aware of what danger she was putting herself in. He jumped down, his feet hitting the ground echoing around them. She turned toward him, a startled expression on her face as her scent became heavy with guilt, before relaxing. He could still smell the scent of guilt in her scent, but she was okay, her eyes reflecting the open emotions that were always there. Her love and trust reflecting back at him. "You scared me," she whispered before she looked out toward the village. "How long were you there?"

"For a minute, in the tree," he said. "You should no better than to be out here," he stated, a bit of a harshness tinting his tone since he was still upset with her for being out there alone, well, since she hadn't been aware of him being there. He said nothing else as he stalked off, knowing that she would follow him and she did, slowly, but she followed him. Unbeknownst to him she was cursing herself, for not having had the foresight to know that he would be out there and that she hadn't had a chance to check her powers. That was the real reason she had come back. Not to stay, no, she wanted to see if her powers worked first before deciding how she would tell the others if it didn't work. She didn't want to stay in the past just yet, the guilt still to fresh and the shame...that didn't feel like it would ever go away. The guilt probably wouldn't either, like her mother had insinuated just moments ago before she had decided to head back. Her mother had been right though. Either way it fell with her powers she wouldn't be able to live with a decision that left her friends in a lurch. No, she would find a way to help them even if she was still feeling weird about what had happened. It didn't take long to get to Kaede's hut, even though with the awkward silence that hung between them it felt like forever. She felt bad, the fact that she wasn't being honest again with Inuyasha or with her friends. She might go crazy if she had to do this for much longer. It always seemed to clench her heart in such a vice grip when she lied to them, to him.

"Hi Kagome!" came the cry from the small fox demon, his small body propelling into her gut with such force that she nearly fell back. No, he wasn't stronger...she was weaker. The others sat before her and she could see the questions that filled their eyes, but she could see the worry that was etched on their faces and her guilt rose higher than the shame for the moment. Inuyasha was watching her, trying to figure out why those two emotions seemed to war against each other. Why would she feel those two emotions? Not like she did anything to be shameful of, maybe she felt guilty for staying away too long, but shameful? Not Kagome. As the smell of food, the stew that was cooking over the small firepit, hit her nose she blushed deeply, the sound of her stomach echoing in the quiet space.

"Come, child, eat," Kaede said, shooting a look to the others that she didn't noticed as she looked down at her offending organ for its sounds. Nodding she sat down, taking the bowl in her hands. Clutching it she began to eat, heeding that warning her stomach had issued just moments before. "Are you feeling better?" the older Miko asked, noting the glare shot her way from Inuyasha.

"Um...yeah," she stated out loud while her thoughts ran, I'm not pregnant from a one night stand and oh, I might have lost my powers. "Everything checked out. Good to go." Maybe. "I'm...um... sorry for the way I left and for not coming back sooner. My mom wanted me to stay and get looked at." She still didn't tell them why she needed to be checked out.

"Are you sure, Kagome?" the kitsune inquired. She nodded in the affirmative. "Then why are you still wearing your winter stuff?" She blanched at that, her mind running thru every possible answer and so she came up with something that was close to the truth without revealing her hand.

"Oh, um, the reason is because...I had such a weird...well...marks on my body," she admitted, saying the last words so softly she was afraid that they hadn't heard and that they had heard. "That's part of why I went to the doctor. Had to make sure everything was running smoothly, ya know?" The blush on her cheeks grew darker as she shifted in her spot, shoveling more food in her mouth to keep from saying anymore. It was as if Inuyasha knew she was lying, and maybe he did since she knew he could scent things about a person. He had called her out on lying before which was part of the reason she had found ways to tell half lies that made it less likely he would catch her. She hated those the most! She didn't want to lie to him, but she also didn't want to put him in a position that would be awkward either.

"Shut it, runt," the Hanyou hissed, eyeing the kitsune with a warning shining in his golden orbs. "Leave her alone. She'll tell us when she wants to, right?" he asked, looking at her now with another warning in his eyes, but now aimed at her. He was warning her that he would find out and that he wasn't happy that she was keeping something. It had to be those swirling feelings that seemed to dominate her thoughts. He had to be able to tell they were there. She wasn't very good at controlling those well yet. Kaede had been training her to hide her scent for helping when they were in battle, but she figured that it would be beneficial to use now once she had it worked out. Whispering a soft 'thank you' to him she continued with her meal before the others joined in, each taking a bowl of the hot stew. She could feel all the eyes on her, all of them full of worry and hurt, but Inuyasha's burned the hottest since he had known her the longest besides Kaede. He had known her longer when it came to time wise, but Kaede had been the first to meet her. She needed to find time to be alone with the older woman, maybe under the guise of one of their regular lessons. That would give her an excuse to get away from the rest of the group for a moment. Yeah, she would have to ask Kaede for her lesson and talk to her about her problem. Kaede wouldn't reveal her secret to anyone else.


	7. Chapter 7

Early the next morning Kagome awoke with a sick feeling in her stomach, the contents of her stomach turning against her with such force that she rushed to get outside so she could save herself the embarrassment of vomiting not only on herself, but on any of the other occupants in the hut. Shippo blinked at her as she knocked into him in her haste, but just figuring that she had to use the bathroom laid back down and went to sleep. No one else heard her leave, except for a pair of golden eyes that followed her from his position on the room of Kaede's hut, his normal spot for standing guard most nights. Sometimes he slept inside the hut, but he was glad that tonight wasn't one of those nights as he watched the stricken teenager rush into the forest. His ears twitched on top of his head at the sounds that soon followed as the young woman crashed to the ground just about six feet from the hut. Wincing as she emptied her stomach, a groan of agony following soon after.

He did want to go to her, but felt that this was probably not the best time to check up on the Miko after how she had reacted to his presence yesterday. No, it was best, at least this time, to let her be. Kagome looked around her, her eyes watering from the expulsion of her stomach contents, and finally spotted the small river that ran behind the hut. Stumbling over she bemoaned about how she had been so stupid to shovel all that food in her stomach so fast yesterday. Had she known the one rule of thumb when you hadn't eaten... That you take it slow and in small portions she would have not had to experience what she was this morning. Then again, no one knew that she hadn't eaten the last few days so if one of them even knew that she was sick because of that they would be upset, but at that moment she felt that a white lie on that one would be fine. It's not like no one in their time had never experienced such a thing as hunger. They had no idea that such a thing was common in her time, but it was and she could explain it like that...No, they wouldn't believe my family had no food or that we just forgot to get food. Maybe she could say it was because of how sick she felt, and Inuyasha, he would vouch for that since he had seen her act so horribly just yesterday. Shuddering she felt the shame well up again. She had reacted so poorly and owed the male an apology for her reaction, but if she did that then he would want to know why she had acted like that to begin with. Not that he's not going to ask anyway... After washing the taste of her mouth and cooling her face with the cold water she headed back, her body aching in the worse way. Before she could enter the hut Inuyasha jumped down behind her, and to her credit she didn't jump, but the scent she was giving off was that guilt again.

Why does she always smell like that? He wondered. Sure it wasn't as strong as yesterday, but he felt that she was trying to remain control of her feelings and Kagome just wasn't like that. When she was sad, she tried, but failed to keep it a secret and when she was mad, you knew she was. She was an expressive person and now she was just trying to hard to be a controlled person. He didn't like this new Kagome. He loved the way she was naturally...loving. Even if sometimes he brought out male attention that he didn't like, he wouldn't change her. "You okay?" he inquired, worry seeping into his tone. She nodded.

"I overdid it yesterday with all that food," she explained, the silence that followed her statement as too tense as she waited for him to ask about why that was, but it never happened. He just nodded and jumped back onto the roof without another word. While she was grateful for him leaving it alone she felt even more anxious, that it was just not over. That the other shoe would drop any moment now and she was nervous without the knowledge of when it would happen. It wasn't a matter of 'if' when it came to Inuyasha. He was a 'when' kind of person and that was something that could be good or bad. In this kind of instance it wasn't a good way. Choosing to forget it and try to go about her day she entered the hut again as the sun rose over the horizon, Kaede up and about making breakfast for the group. Moving to sit beside the older lady, helping get the morning meal ready she asked, "Um, Kaede, could we have one of our training times together some time this morning?" She hoped the older Miko would understand that she wanted privacy for something other than training and to her joy the older woman nodded.

"Sure, Kagome," she said before they continued their tasks for that morning as the rest of the group stirred to life. "We can do it after breakfast, if ye would like." The raven haired teenager nodded, trying not to be too excited since the conversation wouldn't be all that comfortable when it came time to purge her secret and the real reason for needing the early training. After all, the plan was to head out later this morning to find out if there had been any activity that could be linked to Naraku. They wanted to get this battle over quickly and with the spider demon in hiding they were left scratching their heads. No one in the group, especially Inuyasha, wanted to wait around like sitting ducks. They needed to go on the offensive.

An hour later, after everyone had eaten and everything was returned to where it belonged the two Miko headed off behind the hut, leaving the others to do whatever they wanted that day. Miroku had gone with Sango back to her village to clean up her boomerang and to fix her mask while Inuyasha was probably watching them from somewhere or maybe he was staying close where he could hear, but Shippo was out with the children in the village. At least she had three, well, four counting Kirara, less people to watch for while she talked with the other Miko. Still, she wanted to make sure that Inuyasha wasn't able to hear what was going to be said so she asked that they travel a bit further than usual and Kaede nodded in understanding, not an argument from her since she did feel that whatever was going to be said was more than likely very personal and not something trivial with the way the other female had been acting since yesterday. Kaede could feel the emotions that flickered in the younger Miko's aura being a Miko herself. Whispering 'sit' under her breath she waited for a crash and again was surprised when no sound came. Inuyasha was being weird, but who was she to speak when she herself was acting weird too.

"So, what did ye want to converse with me about, child?" Kaede asked, getting straight to the point. Looking down Kagome forgot what she had rehearsed to say to her, feeling so bad for keeping it from all my other friends was bad enough, but Kaede was like a grandmother to her and Kagome was still scared that she might not like what she had to say. "I feel that it is weighing you down, in your soul and your body." Gulping she tried to form words past the lump in her throat, feeling as if her mouth had gone dry even though she had just eaten and drank her fill this morning. Well, not too much after the way her stomach had reacted just an hour before.

"I have to know if there is any proof that a Miko would...lose her powers, ya know, if she..." she faded off, hoping that she wouldn't have to say it again. Hell, this was just as bad if not worse than telling her own mother. Was that not a kick in the stomach when someone you had known your whole life didn't scare you as much as someone whom you had only known for mere years. It was insane. "Has anyone ever...you know..." Again she waited for the older woman to understand what she didn't really want to voice.

"Ah, ye mean had marital relations?" Blushing at the phrase, she had to admit it sounded less vulgar, but it made her feel just as guilty because she had done that. Had relations outside a marriage. "No, not that I am aware of," she said, looking thoughtful for a moment, "but then again there is no telling if a Miko would admit that now is there." Oh, that made her feel worse, the feeling that she was doing something taboo by just admitting she had done such a thing. "It is not something to be proud of, but there is nothing shameful." The Miko felt like the older woman was holding something back, but she didn't want to voice her belief so she took another breath.

"So, even if a Miko were to do such a thing there is no proof that she would lose her powers?" she asked again, wanting to be sure that there was a chance.

"Kagome, child, if you have had such relations there is no shame in telling me," she stated, without using such words of promise she knew that the older woman was telling her that she would keep her secret. That she somehow knew that Kagome was admitting to something that she was still finding shameful. And so the rest of the story came out, about that night that was only a week old. "Ah, so ye made a mistake, child, everyone makes such mistakes at some point in their life. Each are different. I made mine when I didn't push Kikyo about Onigumo and look where that got us, but then again if I had then you would not be here and that would be a sad thing to miss. Ye are a wonderful girl and truly this world needs more of ye." Kagome blushed harder at the words, the guilt of what she had done fading a little with her words. Even the shame was dissipating like a fog does when the sun finally rises high. She felt relief at the older woman's words because even with what her mother had said, Kagome knew that this time was different in their beliefs. Women didn't just go about having sex with random people. "In this time, ye would not be shunned for merely sleeping with a male. Ye would still have a chance to make a good match and hold a respectable status in a village or city." She just knew what to say to sooth her worries. "Ye should tell your friends though, child. It is not something that should be done in haste, but with thoughtfulness for both parties involved. "

She made a point, after all she considered her friends on this side of the well like family. Sango was like an older sister to her, the pair of them always talking about the men in their life and all the problems that only another woman could understand and while it still overwhelmed her with the shame that she felt she knew that Sango wouldn't have held out on her had this same thing happened. She would have leaned on Kagome for support and Miroku, he would have done the same thing, well, not about having sex with some random female. But he would have allowed her to lean on him even if he himself didn't understand it. He was that older brother type that would have probably hunted down the guy and ripped him a new one and then there was Inuyasha. He would kill the guy just for looking twice at her, hell, he had done that that night too. Clinging to her and giving the death glare to any male that had even glanced in her direction. He had acted like a...Like a possessive boyfriend? No, like a father that couldn't allow any male to have access to her. That was a melancholy thought if there ever was one. He didn't treat her like a love interest, no, that was all for her predecessor. And even if she should feel angry at him for that she knew that it wasn't fair for her to blame him or Kikyo for the fact that they had met first. She hadn't met the Hanyou first so she had no real claim on him, but for some reason her heart said otherwise. "Okay. I will tell them, but I'm not ready to do that all at once either." She would tell Sango when they were alone at one of the hot springs. Shit! That thought brought back the fact that even though all the other marks had faded, well, for the most part she still had that blasted bite on her body. The one that took up residence on the spot that marked the meeting of her shoulder to her neck. It throbbed even now.

Kaede would not be able to give her an answer to this and while Sango would know more she feared that it wasn't something to take lightly since it hadn't faded one bit in the last week while the others did. Then again, what would Sango say about what she told her about the fact that she didn't know who had done this? Only one way to tell and that would wait. Turning her attention back to the older Miko she asked for the training she needed to hide her scent, and even though she hadn't added why she wanted to work on that particular skill she knew somehow that after their talk that Kaede knew. Things were beginning to look up.

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Or so she thought as she again found herself feeling dizzy and slightly nauseated. The heat of the day was not agreeing with the turtle neck she was sporting this day. It had been another week of searching and while she wasn't wearing the extreme measure of clothing she had just last week, she was still trying to cover her neck and that had meant sacrificing a few of her turtlenecks by cutting off the sleeves to make it more endurable with the warm weather. Inuyasha was carrying her as he always did when they wanted to move about freely, while the rest of their group rode on Kirara above them. They skimmed the trees, his feet barely making a sound as they headed off to find out if this new demon had anything to do with Naraku. It had been so many weeks before this that had been filled with the hunt for the missing spider demon and the Hanyou carrying her was getting rather irritated, snapping at everyone when another lead led to a dead end. He was tired of playing with this fucker and wanted to be moving on with his life! That gave him pause as his body flew under Kirara, he didn't know what he was going to do with himself after Naraku was dead. He wanted to be with Kagome, to see if maybe she would stay with him in a more romantic sense, but he didn't want to do that until he was sure there was no threat to her or their future pups.

Then again, Kikyo might be right and Kagome would never allow herself to be tied down to him, much less birth his pups. He glanced out of the corner of his eye, his thoughts forgotten at the face of his passenger. She was pale and sweaty, her body was tensing, as if she were trying to hold something in and in his gut he suddenly knew he needed to stop. What is wrong with mate? Shaking his head as his inner demon spouting nonsense he jumped down as carefully as he could, forgetting the others that were suddenly thrown when their other companions suddenly headed back to the ground. Kagome was not his mate, though he did want that with her. Forever with her was a dream that he wished for with all his heart, but knowing she didn't feel that way made him rethink this, not that he still didn't yearn to be with her like that, but it would take some time to convince her of that. If he could convince her. She stumbled off his back, his hands coming out to steady her and while she allowed him to help her she still rushed off alone to throw up. That was unusual, but it had only happened twice in the week since she had come back. It had to be the heat, but none of them could get her to discard the bulky tops she wore now. If she was so hot that she was getting sick then she needed to put on cooler material. Why did she feel the need to cover her neck? That was a curious thing and while he was giving her space to get over whatever had made her reek of all those scents unnatural to her own scent. That was another thing he had noticed more and more...her scent. It was almost muted to his nose. Was she doing something or was it from the way she was acting? She seemed so down before and while she had regained some normality to her attitude in the last few days, like allowing him to carry her, she still held such a haunted look.

She tried to hide it when someone looked directly at her, but they all had seen it. Sango and Miroku had come to talk to him about that, their concerns and ideas as to what was wrong with the young woman. He had told her what Kagome's mother had said, that teenage girls were moodier than their child phase. Sango agreed that while it was true Kagome was from another time and perhaps they were different than the girls in their time. After all they were usually married by such a young age that maturity was forced upon them and thus that left them little room to become so moody as a teenager. They were ingrained with the knowledge of what they would be doing, that they would be a mother and wife. That they would have to be mature to hold that role. She told them she would talk to the Miko when they found a hot spring. Right now she was behind Kagome, holding back the raven locks that threatened to become disgusting if not held from her face. Then she would definitely need a bath then because his nose was too sensitive to be around that smell for long.

Kagome was leaning over, thankful that she could have assistance with her hair since holding it up sometimes wasn't possible to do when your stomach lurched so suddenly. "Kagome, maybe it's too hot to wear that top," she said, concern scrunching her brow. "Wouldn't you like to change into another top?" Kagome shook her head, refusing to even consider exposing her neck to anyone just yet. No, she needed to talk to Sango about it first.

"I just need a minute," she managed as another wave of sickness shook her body. Maybe she need to do what they were suggesting or maybe she needed to find a thinner turtleneck top? And where would I find that right now? Nowhere! Too far from home to make that trip and even then we have to find out if this new demon can led us to Naraku! No, there was nothing she could do right now. "Is there a hot spring near here?" she asked, her friends looking at her like she was crazy.

"I think you need to take a cool bath, Kagome," Sango stated, the others nodding at her suggestion. The raven haired girl shook her head.

"It would shock my body," she stated, realizing that she was admitting that she didn't really need to wear the top she was in and that in fact she could be causing more harm than good, but before she could say anything Inuyasha disappeared from sight, his nose twitching slightly as he sniffed out his target leaving the others behind with curious looks in his direction. He wasn't gone for long, returning in no less than fifteen minutes.

"There's a hot spring over there," he said while pointing off to where he had come from. "You two can go." Shippo sputtered at his words, not liking that the male before him was uninviting him to bath with the women like he always did, but the look that came from said Hanyou shut his mouth. He wasn't pissed off at the kitsune, but his eyes told the small fox that the two women needed to talk, something that he had heard the three adults talking about while Kagome lay asleep. Even though he hated it he knew that it was probably best to let it be and frowning told Kagome when she asked that, no, he wasn't going with them this time. She had been a little shocked at the sudden change in their routine, but she let it go. Sometimes boys didn't want to be too clean and he was a demon after all. They might take baths, but it didn't mean they took them as often as she liked to. As they disappeared Inuyasha shot a look of thanks to the kitsune and soon the three males were setting up camp close to where the women were, Inuyasha going off to hunt while Miroku and Shippo held down the fort.  
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Sango and Kagome walked slowly toward the awaiting spring, both eager to get clean after a long week without. Kagome was thinking about what she wanted to say to the other woman when she revealed the mark on her neck while Sango was wondering what she was going to say to find out what was wrong with the female she considered a sister. Both were so lost in their thoughts that neither had spotted the shadow that lurked in the woods that surrounded the small clearing. No words were said as they both turned to disrobe, keeping their eyes peeled for either of the males or anyone that might be watching them. The shadow had merged in with the darkness of the trees by this point. Kagome covered her neck before climbing in with Sango, ensuring that the other woman would not see the mark until she was ready. Sinking low into the waters she opened her mouth just as Sango did, both stopping before a giggle erupted from the pair. "Um, you go a head," Kagome said and although Sango shook her head and offered that the Miko began Kagome didn't want to just burst out with her information, even though she was bursting to tell her friend. "No, you go ahead."

"Okay, soooo...spill," Sango said instead of asking her questions. She felt that Kagome was going to answer her questions without her even having to ask them. Looking down for a moment Kagome took a deep breath, and in doing so made the other woman more nervous about whatever she was obviously psyching herself up for. Could it be that bad?

"Um, so, remember the night I got...you know...drunk on sake?" Her friend nodded. "Well, I um...I had s-sex," she whispered, looking around them again, as if she wasn't sure they were completely alone. Sango was just frozen, her mouth hanging open as she digested what her friend had just said. When the Miko looked back at her she began to fidget. "And, um, I don't know who it was." Now Sango still hadn't reacted and even with the new information she couldn't even form words in her mind. Her brain was smoking from just that little bit of information before it struck her that this information didn't make sense and she wondered if the woman before her was playing a prank on her or she didn't really know that she had sex.

Now, she wouldn't do that! This is Kagome we're talking about and as for not knowing...well, that is impossible. And then what Inuyasha had said made a little bit of sense. The doctor hadn't been for an illness she had but an examination like what a midwife might perform. "Okay, um, Kagome how could you still use your powers if that was the case?" Kagome smiled at that question. The same one that had plagued her, made her feel worthless...well more worthless than having done the deed with someone she didn't know from Adam.

"Well, according to Kaede," she said, sounding more herself than she had in a week. "There was never any proof that Miko powers disappeared since no Miko had either done it or admitted to...you know, doing that." Hmmm...this was useful information that needed to be available to other Mikos and it did make sense if you thought of it. How were monks able to have sex and not their female counterparts? As Kagome opened up about what had happened, apologizing for how she had acted Sango just listened, assuring the female before her that it was understandable and that it was normal to feel that way when what had happened wasn't you were planning to do and the fact that she had no memory of the night made it extra hard to not feel a little bad about the whole thing.

"Are you going to tell the others?" Sango asked. Kagome nodded, though she reiterated what she had with Kaede. She wasn't going to rush into it and had only told Sango first because she felt a little more comfortable revealing what she still felt shame for. "You know that Inuyasha's not going to be mad at you, right?" Kagome looked up at her in surprise. Nothing about Miroku or even Shippo, no, Sango had dove right past them to the real root of her shame and guilt. How he would feel finding out that she had had sex with another male.

"I don't know," she said, admitting that she felt he protected her like a father would causing Sango to hold back a laugh at the thought that Inuyasha looked at Kagome like a daughter. No, he had been scent marking her for as long as she had known them and that wasn't what a demon did to his child! But she didn't dare tell Kagome that, not just yet. "And then I have another problem, well, more like a question that I think you might have an answer to." When she sat up a little, the water falling down her body so that the slayer could see her neck she expected the other woman to give her an answer, but the fact that no words came out and her friend only became more pale while keeping her eyes glued to the mark on her neck made her nervous. The shadow that had been watching them also looked shocked, but then that same expression morphed into pure glee.

Ah, Inuyasha would indeed be mad about this...


	8. Chapter 8

A few days later found the group entering the place that had been rumored to have been struck down by a rather powerful demon, and upon entering the place they found it just as they would expect, but worse. There were still bodies laying around, their remains untouched in any way that would lead one to believe the attack had been for food. No, this attack was just to kill people, maybe to lure them up there. Kagome slid off Inuyasha's back, looking so upset at the carnage before her. It was horrible what this era had been plagued by Naraku, and most of the blame lay on Kikyo while a good portion was her fault to in some way. She had come here and then she had broken the very thing that was giving the spider demon power. She was ready to be done with this shit, having to dance to his tune since he the upper hand, but what villain didn't? It made her reflect on the movies and shows that she had seen in her lifetime. All the villains led the hero's by the nose, taking control of the situation until it hit the climax of the movie and then the hero was suddenly large and in charge. They wouldn't, in her opinion, take their revenge in a vile way, no it was 'I got my revenge and now the justice system or the Grim Reaper even would take care of them'...Karma really, but still for some of the things that had been done to those very heroes she would have dealt it back to the evil source 10 fold.

Shaking her head she wondered at those sudden thoughts. She wasn't one to be violent, no, she was feeling rather strange at the moment. The thoughts that seemed to run parallel to her own were the exact opposite to how she felt. Sure, villains deserved all they got, but she had never felt particularly hateful or murderous toward anybody, no matter who they were or what they did and yet she could feel that rage. The guilt that almost tinted it. Was it because she was feeling guilty about such thoughts? What was wrong with her? She tuned back in to hear Sango's strangled gasps, her face paling at the sad sight before her. There was a woman and her two children, the two kids barely eight combined, huddled under her, all their blood mingling together. Kagome could feel a slight lurch of her stomach, even Sango seemed to feel it as she looked away from the sight, Miroku dragging her to him with her head hidden in his shoulder. She sighed. How nice it was when a guy could feel his mate's pain. Mate? Wasn't that only for animals? Human's had partners, so why had that word come unbidden to her mind?

"You okay, wench?" Inuyasha asked, coming to stand before her. His red suikan blocking her view of the dead bodies, but she knew that eventually they would do what they always did to pay respects to the dead. They would bury them and she wasn't going to shirk this task because of a little upset stomach. She had never been fond of dead bodies, I mean who was, but she still bore her task to give the spirits peace. Sure, she had been raise in a temple, but even with the few times she had worked as a Shrine Maiden with her grandfather she had never really had to experience such things. Movies were okay because she knew it was fake, but being here in this time was a real eye opener and so she had found that she could not leave them strew about in such a way. They had been people too. She nodded and moved to find a tool to dig with and he followed. It took a good portion of the day to bury them all, especially between Kagome and Sango. For Sango it was simple, she was thinking of her brother whom had been missing for so long now that the group was beginning to wonder if he were still alive and if he wasn't would they find his body so they could bury him. Sango was trying to be optimistic, but with every day it became a bleaker and bleaker outlook. Kagome, well, she was sad about the children for a few reasons. She knew the pain her friend was in, but she also could see her brother at that age...and then for some reason her eyes would just continue to leak at the depressing feeling that sunk over her. Inuyasha looked over at her, now that they were done, as she looked out at the lowering sun with tears still leaking from her eyes. "Kagome?" he asked, worry in his voice.

"Oh, sorry Inuyasha," she said, wiping at her eyes. "Was just, ya know, thinking about those poor kids. Can you imagine not having a long enough life to find yourself, to learn what you wanted to be or to have a family to provide for?" Those were shocking words from her and yet it resonated within him that she would be thinking about that when he himself had been wondering about the same thing. He was a demon and as such he wanted to be complete. To be with his mate, the other half of him and with that to make a family. To have pups to continue on his blood-line. He wanted that with her, but even with her words he didn't dare bring it up. As they stood there, the air cooling around them as it grew dark the pair saw at the same time the two soul collectors that circled the air above them and as soon as Kagome saw them he waited for it, the scent of her sadness rolling off of her, but to his shock it wasn't that strong. No, like her scent it was muted, but still there. Why wasn't it strong like it usually was? "You should go and see what she wants," Kagome said, turning from him to join their friends. The trio off to the side were discussing where to set up camp as they didn't want to camp near the graveyard that had been left in place of a place that should have been filled with life, love, and laughter. People should have been here, raising their kids and working the land. Enjoying what good they had in their life...not buried away from the life giving sun. He was so torn between going to her, knowing she needed him there, even if she didn't know it herself. But he knew from the last run in with the dead Miko that she would not wait so he rushed off toward the outer edges of the small village where the soul collectors were headed. It didn't take long to find the woman calling for him.

If he really thought about it he would know that the way she called him was in no way respectful to his group, nor was it to him, never mind that the fact that it was impersonal to call him like a little slave to be beckoned. No, she didn't treat him with respect since she had been brought back. She treated him as if she owned him and even though he had long ago decided that he wasn't going with her, he had yet to get her to understand that obviously. She needed to come to them if she wanted to speak. He didn't want to hide his meetings from Kagome, not that he hid them from her but what they contained was no long romantic if it had ever been. Sure, he had kissed her, promised her that she was all that he thought of and that he would always be by her side, but he had said that because he had been so torn between his past with her and his guilt for how she died. He had made his promise to Kagome first and she had even reciprocated that promise and then Kikyo had come, his human heart torn with all his raging emotions. He wanted to ignore them and listen to his mixed heart, the emotions of his demon strongly demanding that he take her, that he needed to make her fully his while his human heart was too emotionally with its remembrance of his past with Kikyo. Of course, the fact that she had only wanted his human half without ever having seen it was painful to remember. He had told her he would do it because he had thought he loved her enough to spend his last several years at her side as a human, but if he was truthful he knew it would never last.

"Kikyo," he greeted her, his tone neutral enough, but he still kept his emotions in check. His human half was warring with him to do what needed to be done. To be with the Miko before him or to stop his meetings with her all together if she didn't stop jerking him around. She knew she didn't love him and she knew he knew, but she continued to toy with him, acting as if she cared for him when it really wasn't about that, not now anyway. She just wanted him despite the other woman at his side. She smirked for a moment before schooling her features to almost a regretful appearance.

"Ah, so I come bearing something you may find hard to believe, Inuyasha." She looked at him, staring deep into his eyes since she knew he would be feeling out any deceit at her next words. "Kagome has mated." It was simple, her words conveyed all they needed to for him. Mating was serious and that she was mated and he hadn't even scented it on her was contradictory. When a female mated their own scent intermingled with that of their mate...But maybe that was why she had been smelling so torn when around him. She had found another male, a demon, and had allowed him to tie her life to his...but why? She had promised to stay with him so he had thought he would have time to court her...He thought he had more time.

"That can't be true," he spat, suddenly angry that Kikyo would stoop that far to get him back, to taint the other Miko's name with such lies, but he could see no deceit in her brown eyes so without a sound he was off, running to see if she was indeed marked as the other Miko claimed. As he drew closer to the group's new location he stopped. Why would she hide such a thing? Would he dare believe Kikyo when Kagome had never lied to him? He couldn't do it...he couldn't just accuse her of it, but his demon blood was raging at the thought that Kagome was claimed by another and it was slowly blurring his vision, but the words that drifted over the breeze were what made him snap as his vision completed its not so rose colored feelings.

"Why do you smell different, Kagome?" came Shippo's soft voice, his question holding his beast steady for the moment as he waited, his breath even stilling as the woman before him looked surprised at his question.

"I smell different?" she asked, her tone one of true confusion and he felt that Kikyo had lied point blank to him, but the fact that Shippo could scent out a change in the young woman's scent was a telling sign. He was a pup himself and although as a fox his smell wasn't as strong as his own canine senses, the boy knew what he was talking about.

"Yeah, I can't tell what that other scent is, but my mama smelled like that before she gave me a new brother or sister," he said, each word out of his mouth making her face grow paler by the minute, the faces of Miroku and Sango changing to one of shock and confusion. Only Sango knew that Kagome had had sex and was mated to a male of the demon persuasion. She hadn't told her everything, though she had told her as much as she could remember. There wasn't much information on demon mating rituals there was enough to give her an idea of what it consisted of. But to find that Kagome was pregnant!? Now that was a shocker, but the growl that came from the male moving with purpose was unnerving, her hand reaching for her boomerang while eyes stayed pinned on the now red eyed Hanyou, purple marks staining his cheeks. She had seen this before, but not this way. Not with his sword at his side and no danger to speak of, no this was born from anger.

"Miroku," she whispered. He looked ready to jump in front of the Miko who had stiffened at the first low tone from the Hanyou male still approaching. Kagome looked ready to run, but it wasn't fear that came from her, no, her scent was one of shame and guilt. That same scent from before and even in his demonic form he felt a hint restraint at just those smells coming off of her, they weren't muted like they had been before and that was slowly calming him. He was still in his demonic form though when Sango hissed, "Don't move toward her." At his shocked look she shot him a look that told him not to argue with the demon expert. "Just stay back and relax your weapon." Her own weapon was still in her hands, but she was not tensing now. She knew he would attack them if he felt threatened when what it appeared he was doing what came naturally to a male of the demon variety. He was finding out if one of his pack was really with child and with how the Hanyou felt about that particular member he was angry, but he wouldn't hurt her. No, he might shun her or try to remove the claim that was on her. That would be painful if she didn't accept his claim or she wasn't strong enough to handle the pain involved, but neither of those was a factor here. Kagome would have accepted his claim and she was more than strong enough to handle anything that would bring her closer to his side. She loved the Hanyou with all her heart and as many times as he had hurt that heart it was still full of love for him. Abet it was slightly shattered in some parts, but maybe he could heal her broken heart with the act of claiming her. Making his choice between the two Mikos.

Suddenly he stopped before her, his nose twitching as his lip quivered in a low growl, but Kagome didn't even flinch as she waited, though her skin was still pale and her body was still tense. "He's just doing what he knows, remember that Kagome," the slayer whispers. She knew about this part too. The Alpha of their group was Hanyou and having an unknown around what he considered to be his with his scent still on her clothing, with it on her body was a disrespect to him as well as her. He growled at Sango, telling her to be quiet as he sniffed her, starting at her neck. There was scent there, but he couldn't place a name to it. It seemed twisted, weak and yet it was there. Growling louder as he moved down his demon senses picked up on the scent of a pup. A vanilla laced musk that smelled so sweet that it was hard to miss and yet he hadn't smelled it at all in the last few weeks, maybe it had been longer, but he didn't know.

"How long?" he husked, his body trembling at the knowledge that Kagome was pregnant and she was marked, even if he couldn't see the mark yet. He was still going to see it, even if he knew it was there. He needed and yet loathed to see it on her flesh...He needed to know what she had done for himself.

"Um almost three weeks," she whispered, her shame coming thru so strong now. "I'm sorry...but I didn't know I was..." she faded off, the word unable to form in her mouth, unable to pass her lips. It was stuck in her throat as she felt emotions swirling around in her heart and her head. He growled at her.

"You didn't know you were pregnant? You didn't know you were marked? You didn't know what, Ka-go-me?" He was only showing anger to them, but Kagome could hear it in his voice and when she glanced at his golden eyes so full of not only that anger that glowed in them, but the betrayal that darkened them. She had betrayed him, and it hurt far more than Kikyo's betrayal all those years had. That was a mosquito bite compared to the force of Kagome's betrayal.

She had betrayed him, even if it was without her knowledge. Could she explain it to him? But his words brought a new feeling to the table, one that burned under her skin, flowed thru her veins. It was almost as if his emotions were bringing her own to the surface. "I didn't know what the mark on my neck was until a few days ago and as for pregnant, no! I had a test done in my time and it said I wasn't!" Her temper burned thru her, tears blooming as she felt the confusion at what was going on before her...to her. And suddenly she found herself crumpling as she emptied her guts yet again, this time she knew why she had been so sick, even if it was only a few times and not an every day occurrence. She was pregnant with an unknown demon's baby and Inuyasha, the one that she had wanted to be her first and only...the one that she wanted to give babies to was no longer an option, unless he nulled the mark, but the next words out of his mouth were not in her favor.

"Whoever told you that was right, but what they didn't know," he growled. "Was the only way for the mark to even stay that long was because you accepted this fucking male's claim on you!" His tone was pure poison as he turned from her, his anger shaking his form as he tried to think of why he wouldn't try to lift the mark. Was it her feelings of shame that caused him to pause. Her feelings that led him to believe she had no idea of what she had gotten herself into? That she had truly not thought she was pregnant? Even if that was the case he had to know, even as she still sat there on her knees. She looked up at him and he could see that she was hurting too. It was painful to know that you had lost something precious that you would never get back and what if she really did love this other male? "Who was he?" Inuyasha asked, hurt and anger warring as he waited for the answer. Dreading it, but before she could even form a thought another voice entered the conversation, the group turning in horror at the appearance of the one male that always see to cause trouble.

"Why, it was me," came his response. "After all, it was soooo easy to do when you were rather drunk, Kagome." He smiled, victorious in his gloating. "I told you I would have her and now I do." No one could say anything, even Kagome found her body frozen, her mind blanking out as it short circuited.

"No," she and Inuyasha whispered at the same time.


	9. Chapter 9

There is NO way! The two thought at once, Inuyasha retuning his gaze to the raven haired woman. He couldn't even fathom how she would allow him of all people to take her life in those very hands that had done so much evil in the world! Those same hands that pitted him against the love of his life! Those hands that had taken that same life and had poisoned her against him again, her form still dead and given that hardship to endure life in the most un-natural way! There was no way!

I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground

Kagome stood there, still blanking about everything except what was looking at her, looking so elated at his victory, abet a small one to most. No, he couldn't have managed to overtake her! Sure, she had been drunk, but there was no way that her heart wouldn't have accepted his claim over her! Why would I have any love for such a monster?! She blinked, her eyes darkening at the sudden thought that flashed to life in her mind. Inuyasha had said because she had accepted it, but how would she accept what someone so evil when she had Inuyasha? What was that thought? It didn't sound like her and yet it was her thought wasn't it? Yeah, she loved the Hanyou and she had always felt safe with him, but she knew she never had him. No, Kikyo had him, from before when she was of a natural form and now, when she was but a clay doll. She had never had Inuyasha. Was that why she accepted his claim. Because she had accepted that she wasn't anything to Inuyasha, well, not in a way she wanted that she had given up heart to an evil being since she wasn't pure anymore? Pure people didn't covet something that wasn't theirs. Purity didn't taint itself by beginning to hate someone who had nothing but an unrealistic body. One that could never have what Kagome had. She could never marry, not a real marriage since she couldn't bear children. But Kagome would give up those things to be with Inuyasha, to just be with him even if she had only a sideline position in his life!

And I'm hearing what you say, but I just can't make a sound

"Ah, you still look like you don't know what to think," the male said, his laughter, so dark and hateful, echoed around them. "You loved every minute of it...well, I did." Inuyasha seemed to come out from his trance at those words, a growl shuddering from his throat in warning to all those around him. He may not like what had happened, hell, he hated it, but he wasn't going to let anyone, least of all this fucker, talk about Kagome in such a vulgar manner!

"Shut the fuck up, Naraku!" his bellow shook the ground beneath them and the skies above them. He didn't turn from Kagome so she got the brunt of his yell. Now in a low voice he drew his face closer to hers, his golden eyes drilling into her chocolatey orbs, penetrating them with such intensity, "Did you fuck him?" he asked, watching her and finding her eyes so full of confusion, fear, shame...guilt... That was the only thing he could see now. The same guilt she had had when he had seen her after the night of the celebration. She had been fine, but upon going home she had begun to react so guiltily toward him. She had come back with weight on her than when she had left him, her scent had become so weak that he could hardly scent her out and the lies she had told the others. Yes, he had known they weren't full lies, the scent of a lie was more potent. She had been hiding something from him! She had been hiding what she had done and now she was trying to hide the truth of her mate.

You tell me that you need me then you go and cut me down, but wait

She wanted to look down, to stop allowing his probing and that was what was going on. He was going by the soul, her eyes revealing all that she felt...and right now she was feeling so many so strongly, but one was strongest. Guilt. She felt it for lying to him and she felt it for having lost her virginity to someone she didn't even know who they were. She felt even guiltier by that one thing the most. How fucked up were you if you couldn't remember who you gave it to! Finally, for the first time in almost three weeks decided to tell her friends the truth, the truth that only she and one other knew in their group.

"I-I...I don't know," she finally managed to spit out. Tears began to burn her eyes as she tried to fight them, her body shuddering under all the strain her heart was under in that one moment. She had done so many deceitful things in the last few weeks, no, before that she had done that too! How in the world had she come to possess such a task as carrier of a jewel that was powerful...depending who held the stone. Purity or tainted ...either could own the jewel in their own right. The cursed stone. The Shikon no Tama. Cursed! She was cursed! She wasn't pure like she had been told. "I'm cursed," she muttered, anger and sadness intermingled in her tone. Suddenly in that flash of a second she shoved off of Inuyasha, her powers swirling around her in a darker pink, her purity being corrupted. She landed a good ten feet from him, shock on all the faces around her, even Naraku seemed surprised. Kagome said it again, her voice cracking with the force of her emotions that clouded her aura, "I...am...cursed!" Inuyasha growled at her, his voice coming out in strangled gasps.

You tell me that you're sorry, didn't think I'd turn around, and say (that)

"What?" She hadn't hit him, not a bit of her power had been used to hurt him, no he had seen it in that moment. He was sure no one had seen that she had put a barrier up over him separate from hers as she pushed off of him. Now the words that she had said bounced around in his head. It made no sense to him what those words meant. She didn't know who she was mated to? How did you forget who you tied your life to?! There was no way that was the truth and now she was spouting nonsense off like being cursed! Had she gone mad? She narrowed her eyes at him, but tears were still streaming down her face and her eyes weren't filled with malice at him, no she was mad and it wasn't directed to him. "Ka-"

"No!" she yelled when her friends and Inuyasha made a move toward her. Naraku just stood by, his face once again mirthful at the darkness he was feeling from not only Kagome. No, all her friends were filling with darkness and the jewel portion that he had in his possession was pulsing with the darkness. She was rebelling in her mind to his words, to his coaxing the woman to remember all that she had been to these people that she called friends. All that the male before her saw her as, but she wasn't buying it...well, not all of it. She was buying the Inuyasha words, what the Hanyou had told her several times. That she was weak. That she was just a jewel detector. All of it, but when he said copy to her, she had pushed him off. That was a touchy topic and while the woman didn't see herself that way was different than he had wanted her to see it. No, she didn't see herself as a copy. A copy would have a chance at the same relationship. If Inuyasha saw Kikyo in her than he would want to be with her, right? No, he saw her as a mule and as a shard detector. That was all. "Leave me alone!" she screamed, her fingers clutching at her own head. This was the first time they had realized she wasn't talking to Inuyasha anymore and that he couldn't be seen by her own eyes. She was still crying, but her eyes were clenched tightly. The aura around her had begun to glow, a pinkness that was interfusing with the blackness that seemed to surround her small frame.

"It's too late to apologize (it's too late)."

Inuyasha took another step toward her, his clawed fingers reaching for her and even though he was still beyond pissed at her for what she had done, what she had willingly done, he still didn't want to her to leave him. No, even if Kikyo thought that she wouldn't allow him to be at her side in more than a friendship status he still loved her and that wouldn't change no matter what. He would find a way to show her...but then another part of him demanded to know how he would get past what she had done. Mate is ours. No matter who gets in the way! Kagome wasn't his mate though...She was pregnant too and with Naraku's child! She had let someone and not just anyone but their enemy touch her. To defile her to his pleasing. That was what that part wanted to know. It wasn't just concerned with her pain, but its own as well. "Kagome!" he bellowed, his anger evident, but in that moment her aura flashed and was gone...as was the woman who had been it. Kagome was gone and Naraku was pissed! He howled his distaste at the turn in the situation. He had had her right where he wanted and she had gone!

"Fuck!" he hissed before disappearing from sight to leave the group to stand there, still frozen in shock of all that had happened in a matter of minutes. It's just too much for the small group as Sango breaks the silence first, her tears streaming down her flushed face as her color returns. Shippo joins in as he clings to the slayer, her claws cutting into her kimono, but Sango doesn't know or she doesn't care as she hugs the small fox. Miroku just stands there, his amethyst eyes taking in the Hanyou still standing there, his fingers still reaching for where the Miko had stood just seconds ago. He hasn't blinked and the monk grows worried for the male before him. His is upset for the missing woman, but he knows that Inuyasha is hurting too so he goes toward him, stopping just a few feet from him.

"Inu-" the half demon before him released a howl, his head thrown back as he fell to his knees in one graceful movement. It drew the attention of the two wailing people, the pair watching in silence with Miroku as the male on the ground tore his throat to pieces with his guttural cry of misery and anger. It echoed away from them to where several others looked to the skies in recognition of what it was. No one said a word as the Hanyou slumped forward, his transformation fading as his body flopped on the ground and he passed out.  
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As the echo of the howl reverberated over the countryside a den filled with wolves listened, noting the cry to be one of a demon losing its mate and they howled out in response, one particular wolf demon falling to his knees as well. He knew that cry belonged to and the only thing it could mean. "Kagome," cried out as he rushed out of his den, following the long howl as the dust billows around him and even without his shards he manages to rush as quickly as he could with them. He rushes past another small group, much like the one that Kagome belonged to, and while it did have a dog demon leading it, the male wasn't the Hanyou he was after so he dismissed them.

That same male had his head turned in that same direction, the small toad demon that was with him seeming raptured at the very sound that echoed all around him, curious as to what it was he asked, "Lord Sesshomaru, what is that howl about? It sounds like your brother, does it not, my lord?" Rin also seemed drawn by the sound, it sounded mournful to her. While she didn't know his brother very well, she liked him and the people in his group. They had all been very nice to her and she hated to think that something had happened in their group that would elicit such a sound from Inuyasha.

"That is the mourn of a demon who has lost his mate," he stated, sounding dismissive, but he could only imagine such a pain. He did not have a mate of which to mourn such a passing, but he felt that once his ward became of age he might have such a mate to protect with all his heart and soul. Yes, he did love the little girl and he would be more than remiss to see her gone from his life. He had almost lost her in one such instance to that very evil Hanyou, Naraku. He should see, even if his brother would not answer him, what had happened to the woman. She had done much to earn his respect, from her fearlessness towards him and the respect she had shown his ward, protecting the young girl from death when she could have just walked away. No, she was a powerful Miko as well and that also added to his respect for her so he turned to walk that way, his group turning to follow him without a word.

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The woman herself lay several miles away from this, her prone form laying in a field of grass. Groaning she wakes up, her body aching as she tries to push up on her shaking arms. What the hell happened? She couldn't figure out how she had come to be alone in a field or where she even was. Finally getting to her feet, after several tries she begins to walk, walk in random direction even as her mind reminds her that when lost you should wait til someone finds you. Chuckling at that thought a mirthless smile twists her lips. No one knew where she was, she was sure of that, and maybe...just maybe that was for the best right now. She didn't want to be found right now, not with her mind twisted like it was and her heart aching with such misery at the thoughts in her head. No, it was best that she was alone for the moment...at least to try and figure out what she was going to do with the information she had been given.

No, there was a heart breaker. If it was true and Naraku had forced himself upon her while she was intoxicated, then she had truly lost whatever right she had to even be alive. She hadn't betrayed just herself in that moment..no she had betrayed her friends...almost laughing at their pain by doing what she had done. Inuyasha...he had said as much. The mark...no the claim on her body was over her own violation. She had accepted it, but that still didn't make sense since she despised the dark demon for what he had done to them. He had taken away Inuyasha's love all those years ago, Miroku had his curse because of Naraku and Sango had lost her family...and her people taken from her. Even her brother was still MIA because Naraku hadn't let him die in peace. He had taken so much and yet, she felt anger at herself. She was just as bad as him, just a responsible for almost all of those same things...save for Inuyasha and Kikyo. She hadn't done that. No, Oniguma was Kikyo's karma...her burden to bear.

Kagome shattered the jewel, allowing Naraku to rise, to gain the power he had now. That should mean that while she was responsible for Sango since her pain had been brought upon by Kagome's error, Miroku was not since his family had been cursed long before her arrival. But then that left Shippo. He too had been orphaned because of her folly. The Thunder Brothers were powerful, but because of the jewel they had become more and then because of that same jewel his father had been keeping in his possession he had died. She shouldn't have come thru that well. She shouldn't have been here and then so much of the death and destruction that had been wrought because of her wouldn't have been so. Her feet slowed as she passed a few tree, her mind realizing that indeed not only was the jewel cursed, but it had cursed her by association ... She had been cursed with so much and yet, there had been a bright side. One that would never be a curse to her. Her friends. With renewed spirits she knew what she had to do now and before her pregnancy progressed further. She would get the other half of the jewel and fix her mistake. She would do that no matter what the cost to her because they had not deserved this fate. Speeding up again she reached out in her mind for the location of Naraku, something she had tried before and had failed, but she would look for him more fervently than before. She would use that power that had nearly swamped her senses to use it for the completion of task.

Suddenly she found herself falling, her scream echoing in her mind as it failed to leave her mouth.


	10. Chapter 10

Inuyasha stands, still completely lost in his thoughts as Koga appears before them, his own eyes burning with tears when he sees that the group is all there, save for one woman that he truly cares about. He had thought of her as a potential mate and while she had told him of her love for another man, he had thought that he still had a chance and wanted that chance to get her to see him as more than a friend, but she wasn't here. The mourning around him told him little in the way of her fate, but Inuyasha's howl of remorse and the look of him standing there told the wolf demon that Kagome was gone. Was she dead?

"Wh-Where is she?" he asked, his voice coming out rough as he continued to look at the broken Hanyou. When he didn't get an answer he rushed at the other male, slamming his fist into the shaken male's cheek. Inuyasha was knocked away from the spot where Kagome had been, his eyes unblinking even as he hit the ground, the dust hiding him from view of his friends.

"Inuyasha!" Sango cried, Shippo hot on her heels to get to the fallen male, Kirara coming to stand in the way of Koga as Miroku joined her. He held his staff so hard that his knuckles were turning white. What was the wolf demon's issue? Didn't he see that Inuyasha was in no state fight him. His mind wasn't on those around him and that was apparent by the easy strike the other male had taken. "What the fuck is your problem, wolf?" Sango cried out in anger. Sure, Inuyasha had hurt Kagome all those times, but he had proven his affection for her as well and hadn't deserved the strike that Koga had given him.

"Why do you come here to fight, Koga? Can yo-"

"He's right," Inuyasha muttered, sitting up as he brushed off Sango. "I deserved that punch, but know this, wolf," he said, his voice vibrating with the growl that was coming from his throat. "That is the only one you will get without me fucking tearing you apart!" Koga eyed him, the hate evident in his vibrant cerulean eyes. He spit to his right, a dark chuckle escaping his lips.

"The only one? Ha, that's laughable, mutt," he said taking a step toward the rising Hanyou. "You deserve to die if she has fallen." Miroku moved to block his way, Kirara growling a warning at the wolf leader. Their standoff seemed to last for hours as the group that had once held a Miko glared at the male who claimed to love that same Miko even when his attentions were always dismissed by the young woman he wanted as his mate. Finally it seemed that the hold was broken as Koga moved quickly to get to Inuyasha and the Hanyou rushed to meet his clash, his sword still at his side as he bore his claws to attack his rival. Before they could meet though, a voice broke thru their intent, so cold and yet so commanding in that some tone.

"You both are such idiots to think that such a fight is warranted," the male stated. All eyes fell upon their new arrival. Sesshomaru stood before them, looking as impassive as he always appeared. Cold and almost untouchable, save for when the girl at his side demanded his attention, but now she stood there with Jaken with no words to say as she looked for Kagome amongst them. Still hoping that she was wrong and the Miko was still at their side as she always was when they crossed paths. She said noting when she noted the female was indeed gone and that the others before her weren't angry anymore. They were looking at the ground, refusing to look at her lord when his words were so true. They shouldn't be fighting at this moment, not when the young girl they were all missing was possibly fine. Why did they act as if she had died? Even Sesshomaru, who wasn't one to interfere in fights that had nothing to do with him or to even show any feeling had come to find out what had caused such a mournful cry from his temperamental half brother.

"You have no business in this," Inuyasha hissed, his eyes flashing red for a moment at all the interference into his battle with the wolf. He hadn't forgotten why the other male was there either. He was sure that the wolf had heard his cry, had known that he again had failed to protect Kagome. Why did he think he deserved her? Why did he think that she would want to be with him when he couldn't even protect her from being defiled by the spider demon? He hadn't been able to protect Kikyo and she had once held his heart, even if it had never been the all powerful love that he held for her reincarnation. His brother scoffed, his own eyes flashing in warning at his brother.

"I do have business in this, brother," he said, his words tinted with malice and anger. "The Miko is a powerful one, one that has earned my respect in more ways than one." That seemed to shock those standing there, save for Rin and Jaken who had known that even though that very girl had earned his ire at once point when she had interfered with his attempt to take his father's fang all those years ago. Yes, even Rin had heard of that fight from the toad demon that kept her company for a good portion of the time when Sesshomaru was away doing his own thing. She knew that he had been so upset with the fact that a mere human and a girl at that, had taken hold of the sword and while she had already shown her strength in facing him with little to no fear at all, he had been so upset that she had been the one to pull the fang from the place it had rested since his father's death. Something that he had finally come to terms with since Rin had entered his life. "I doubt that she would want the pair of you fighting to the death." He now looked around, though he knew the young woman wasn't with them. He had known by his brother's cry that the Miko was gone. Dead or not with them had been the question he had wanted answered. "Where is she?"

"She just disappeared," Miroku stated, relaxing for the moment in the knowledge that with the dog demon here that no one would be fighting and even if they tried they would probably regret it from the first fist thrown to the last one that was allowed before the dog Lord. He quirked a brow at that, unsure of what exactly she had meant by that but at the same time he had felt the power surge that had even risen the hair on his neck. It had been so strange, a battle between the purity of a Miko and the darkness that seemed to push around that pure aura. He had been sure that Naraku had been in battle with their small group and had been tempted to rush after them. He did owe that bastard a slow death after all for what he had done. Taking Rin had been a true deciding factor in his warring mind over fighting against the Hanyou. He hadn't really worried to much about the evil that plagued the lands as long as they stayed away from his lands, but Naraku had come to him first and when done they had nothing to do with each other and Sesshomaru had not bothered to give the other demon much of his time, save for a few times where his mind wanted to know more about this thing that hated his brother as much as he had once thought himself to feel.

"So, she transported then?" the silver haired demon asked, looking thoughtful for a moment. Mikos were strange creatures after all. They were humans that help powers that could rival that of their counterparts, the demons. Sure, the groups never seemed too close to each other, but they were after all just another race. Another humanoid that roamed the Earth. Some demons, like humans, were weak with no power to speak of, but others held powers that were still just a hair's breath from a Miko in her most powerful form...well, except for his brother's Miko. Her powers were more powerful than any he had ever seen in his 900 year life span. "She is a very powerful Miko." He now turned his attention to Inuyasha. "Are you really that dense to think that she was dead?" he asked, his eyes growing dark as he wondered again as to the nature of his brother's cry. Surely the younger male wasn't that stupid. He had been around Kagome's predecessor so he had to know that they had some powers that would be kin to his own kind's powers. Teleportation was something that few had, but the half breed had to have remembered that he himself, could do that too. He had left Inuyasha behind that way several times. His father had been able to do that some move.

"No, not dead," the Hanyou muttered, anger tinting his tone as he remembered when all of his very life had come tumbling down his ears. Kagome had had sex with someone...she was marked by that same someone...and she bore that fucker's spawn. She might as well be dead for all that she had done. Don't talk about her like that! His demon wasn't happy with his thoughts, but truly how could one get over such a betrayal like that?! Even if he hadn't had the feelings he had for her like he did. Even if his love wasn't one of a romantic nature...even if they had only been friends it would still be a betrayal to him. His human side felt that betrayal while his demon side seemed to be in denial of it. "She may as well be." Shocked gasps followed his words, a growl from Koga intermingled with their surprise and hurt at his words. Inuyasha didn't wait for them to say anything as he jumped off into the woods. Sesshomaru stilled the wolf with one word.

"Why?" Koga also wanted to know because the fact that she wasn't dead gave him immense relief. His heart could finally beat in a normal rhythm, but why would the one that she claimed to have love for feel it was better for her to have died instead. He was in fact, treating it like she was dead... Sango began to retell all that had happened in a matter of minutes that had felt like a lifetime as they too had stood and absorbed all that Naraku had told them.. of how Kagome had seemed to be suddenly forced from them by her own power and while her power had remained a pink tint there was a darkness growing within it. At the end Koga was nearly frothing at the mouth while the older demon stood, unmoving in his thoughts as the story played itself in his mind. He could almost see it all thru her words. "So, he claims that he had taken her as his in both ways, but to me something sounds off."

"Off?" Shippo asked, confused as he was still too young to understand all that had transpired, save for the fact that Kagome was with pup. That he understood. Sesshomaru looked annoyed for a moment, almost torn with the information that only held at this moment. Sure, humans had some inkling of marking, the act itself wasn't all that new and while rarely used anymore with all the wars between humans and his kind, it was still a thing that some demons still did. What he couldn't get past was someone like Naraku knowing such information.

"Naraku shouldn't know of such things," the dog demon stated. "He isn't a slayer who would have such knowledge and he's not a real demon either so he wasn't raised in a way to be aware of such information. That begs the question as to how he would know of it so he could do it." And then the other question was why Kagome's scent hadn't held that of the father to her unborn pup...There were so many questions now and he didn't have answers for them either. Growling low in his throat he looked to his ward. If the spider demon could do that to the Miko for whatever enjoyment he got from it and it was his way of doing things. Things to harm his enemies in a way that not even his incarnations could do nor his own hands. He could weaken them with just a twist of his thoughts, making them pull from each other, but the simple fact was that he had tried that before and it had never worked. "Because of the Miko," he muttered, the others looked on in shock of his statement. What could he mean by that?

"What about that has to do with Kagome?" Sango demanded. "She didn't ev-" He held up his hand to silence her.

"He couldn't have known about it, but then again it would make sense that he would utilize someone who would," the silver haired male stated. "He would use it to make her defiled in such a way to taint the jewel. He has done it before has he not? When my brother and his first Miko were together." It was not a statement, that last part. "He has tried it with you all, has he not?" It all came to make sense then. What he was saying without saying it. All of them had somehow been affected by the spider demon, but Kagome had welcomed them all and made them happy in a way that they had feared they could never be again. She was the glue and if Naraku took it away then they wouldn't be strong enough anymore. Little did they know that they had to visitors that stood off in the shadows, one was a friend while the other longed to be like them. A wish that had been taken away long before her new life, if one could call it that. She longed to be normal, allowed to have friends like the ones that her reincarnation had. Anger welled up at those thoughts.

She could never be what she had always longed to be. A normal woman with a husband by her side, children underfoot and friends to converse with! Why had her reincarnation been given what she could not have!? She longed to kill the girl even more and even though she knew that would do no good in the end because once she killed Naraku she would go to Hell. Inuyasha said he would no longer go with her, but as much as she felt for him, she still felt that he owed her that and she was going to take him with her. It didn't matter what he wanted anymore, no, it was about what she deserved all over again. Walking away from the sight before her she thought of ways to find the other Miko and to bring about her death so quickly that no one, not even Inuyasha could stop her. He could hate her for that, but when the other one was gone he would have nothing else to do but join with her on her journey to the after life.

As for the other shadow, it listened quietly, taking in the view from someone he had never quite gotten along with and while the feelings were obviously mutual he couldn't help but take those words from his brother and throw them into the mix of his own turbulent thoughts. There was something not quite fitting in with Naraku's little tale now that he heard the reasoning of his own kind. He had to find her and he knew that that was also what his group was deciding as well. They would need to find the missing Miko and it was something that couldn't wait. "Well, let's get going," he said as he reemerged from the darkness of the trees.

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Kagome could only allow gravity to take her down the side of the large cliff. Thankful that it wasn't a sudden drop and was just an incline that felt like a rather scary slide as her small form tumbled down it. Her mind was screaming at her to fight this fall, that she could stop herself or at least slow herself down if she so wished, but for some reason she wasn't fighting it. Maybe she hoped that it would either end the life of the baby she was carrying, or maybe she had hoped she would die from the fall. Sure, she had wanted to go after and kill Naraku, but some part of her still tormented herself with the fact that she wasn't just simply defiled as she had feared, but she was corrupted in a far worse way than that. She was marked, chained to a monster that would only kill her once her purpose was fulfilled or maybe he would rape her once he found her. And that was how it felt now, that she had been raped and while it made her feel better on some level that she hadn't accepted him in the way that she had feared it still meant that she hadn't been strong enough to fight him off and then another voice entered her warring emotions. She had accepted him in some way to keep his mark upon her skin, but that still didn't make sense.

Finally she was done with the self pity party she was having at the moment. She couldn't die before she killed him, she couldn't allow him to continuing tormenting people and not her friends. They were already hurting from his appearance in their life and now if she allowed herself to die then she couldn't do what she had obviously been brought here to do. To do away with him. Even then she felt that was a strange thing for her to be brought here for. Maybe once she got the jewel together she could do what she felt she was here to do. She was here to correct the mistake that had allowed him to flourish. She was here to correct the wrong that Kikyo had done and the one she herself had done by not believing that keeping a jewel safe from evil would be so hard to do. She had possibly not believed Kaede when she had told her of the forces that would want such a gem and maybe she had also thought that when the time came she wouldn't have to worry about all that because she was going to go home. If only she had gone home earlier so that the jewel would not have been shattered...or maybe if she had found another way to retrieve it instead of reacting without thought that such a strong jewel would not shatter so easily. Finally she managed to turn her body in such a way that her tumbling slowed down to a slow roll, the rocks that had been cutting into her on the way down actually helping her to find purchase for her feet. Some broke in the beginning but soon her tennis shoes found solid enough rocks that she stopped.

Looking down she could see that she still had a ways to go before she would be at the end and sighed as she laid her head back against the hard surface. She would need a breath first before she could continue her trip down the rest of the mountain and she feared it would take long into the night for that feat to be done. Suddenly she felt a pulse of power spread thru her, the point of it in her stomach. She wanted to scream in agony that she still held his child in her womb, but her heart, her heart was breaking because even if what Naraku said were true, this baby was also hers. This child in her womb wasn't all evil, it couldn't be. No, not with her love to temper it while it was still in her womb. She wouldn't allow her own flesh and blood to become what Naraku was...if he was the child's parent. Even though he seemed to know of her night of drinking, he hadn't really given proof that he had had her. With that thought in mind and the renewed power that seemed to both give her the energy needed to get off the side of the natural structure and so she began her decent down the side, on her back to protect the life that she had only known for less than half a day...while it had been apart of her for more than three weeks. She would do whatever she needed to do to protect it, before her child's birth and after they came into the world. She would do it all and defeat Naraku.


	11. Chapter 11

Kagome sighed as she laid back on the cold hard ground of the cave she had found days ago after her little trip down the side of a cliff. Her stomach grumbled at her and she found a smile grace her lips for a second before resting her hands on the still flat plane of her stomach. It grumbled again and while she knew it wasn't the sound that she found so amusing at this moment, but rather the thought that her child was telling her that it was hungry. Thankful that it was still there when after climbing down from the slanted side of the cliff she had found her stomach cramping in the worst way and while that pain had brought tears to her eyes it was the blood that had stained her legs that had freaked her out even more. Sure, she still had doubts about bringing a child conceived from rape, and that was what it was in her mind now, she still wanted the small life in her stomach to live. It was weird really, finding that even though the one who had impregnated wasn't at all what you wanted, hell, she hated that it was possible that Naraku had done it, but she wanted this child. Fear had driven her on to find help, well, some kind of help to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately for her she found that not only was there no town or village anywhere near where she was, but that her body wasn't happy with all the movement so she sat down, her back laying against a lone tree in the middle of nowhere.

Hell, with how she looked right now in her bedraggled clothing from her era she was probably the last person to be given help. At least that was what she thought, but she knew a few people in this time that would help her and most of them were in her group, the group that she had left behind in that moment her body, heart, and mind had warred within itself. It had been too much for her to bear and in that moment she understood what her powers had done. They had removed her from that place where her soul was becoming tainted with all the information and all the emotions that had swirled in her like a tornado. It had been a defensive reaction to the turmoil in her body and while she knew it had been to help her she felt that it had also caused a problem and she had no answer to this problem. She hadn't wanted to be away from her friends...from Inuyasha... Had she? Bringing herself back to the present she stood up, groaning at the pain from sleeping on the cold hard ground of the cave, but after a slight stretch she made her way out of the cave to start another day of seeking shelter even if her body didn't like it. First though, she had to find food to eat since she hadn't managed to eat much in the last few days.

She wasn't starving, but she wasn't full either. Having been on this side for so long she had learned a few things from her friends to survive when her goodies from her time had run out. She knew what berries were safe to eat and how to fish, though she wasn't very good at that part she still managed to snag a few small fish in the last few days since the cave was close to a small water source, but she knew she would need more, especially now that her body was home to another life. Finding some of the berries that were safe to eat, she ate what she could before turning to head back to the cave, only to stop when someone called out her name and while she knew for certain that it wasn't anyone in her group she could also tell that it wasn't anyone out to do her harm either.

"Kagome!" the male voice calls again, growing closer to where she was she could finally see who was trying to get her attention and a smile broke out at the male's appearance. He was coming from the right of her, opposite to where she had just been eating her berries, and his smile was full as he waved both his arms in greeting.

"Hojo," she said, questioning her good fortune in the last few days to find someone who would help her, though like his descendant he had a crush on her and while that might make her a little unsure of his intention to help her she still was glad. She needed to get back to her group or find a way to get to Naraku so she could deal him some punishment. She would rather be with her group though, even in the situation that she was in she still would rather be by their side. It would be hard to be so close to them, but other than the thought that they may hate her for her defilement she missed them. It was so weird to be out on her own and while she was stronger than she had been in the beginning she had never been alone...not here and not at home and while she also yearned to be home she knew that she loved this era more than her own and would never feel right leaving it behind. Even if that was what would happen in the end, and hopefully it wouldn't, she didn't think it would ever feel the same after her time here.

He stopped just in front of her, his smile twitching as he looked around. "Where's your group?" What he really wanted to ask was where the silver haired male that usually accompanied her was. He knew that the Hanyou didn't like him, well, not just him he was sure, but any male that got near the woman before him and he wasn't looking to be speared by those golden eyes that could spit fire.

"Um... I kinda got separated from them," she said, looking unsure for a moment and while he was concerned with her being alone he felt that her separation wasn't of her doing or if it was something serious must of happened and then suddenly he noticed how pale she suddenly got as tears welled up in her eyes. "I-I..um..." She was off, taking a hard run to stop behind a tree before sounds of her emptying her bowls hit his ears. A brow raised in confusion. A few minutes later she stood, her face even paler than before with sweat that glistened on her brow, her body shivering as she held herself up with one hand on the trunk of the tree. "Sorry," she murmured. He shook his head and offered her his flask for refreshment and well, of course to wash that taste out of her mouth. Taking it from his hands she took a small bit of the cool water, swished it around her mouth and spit it out before taking a hearty gulp.

"You okay?" he inquired, and while he was concerned he was also feeling rather upset that her group had left her out here, alone and sick, and that just didn't sit well with him. She nodded, handing him back the flask.

"Just a...well," she stuttered. It wasn't something that she wanted to share with others, since once finding out that she was pregnant she had felt very shamed and guilty as could be and while she accepted the child (for the most part) she still felt an attack of guilt and shame of what had happened to create this child. "It's a long story that I don't really want to get into right now." There, she had put it out there in the best way she could at this moment. Sure, it would become more apparent, but by that time she hoped to be with her group...or maybe in her time with her mother to help her. Shit! Her mother was going to be super ticked off at her or would she? Her mother was a very understanding person and while she might be upset she would ultimately support her child and if she didn't then Kagome could just go it alone. She wouldn't need anyone if they didn't accept her mistake and her choice. Was that really fair though since she was still reeling over said mistake and trying to still come to terms with what could be considered fallout. Sure, she had chose to keep her child, but until when? Would she be able to give the child a good home? Love? There was still time to figure that out, but she knew from her time that some women weren't able to connect with their child (wanted or not) until they gave birth, while others never felt that connection and failed to even want to see said child. They disconnected and yet she was already talking to the child...well, she was in her mind maybe.

"Where were you headed?" he asked, failing to see that she hadn't heard a word he said, just excited to have some time with the girl that he had met all that time ago and instantly having found himself attracted to her. Who wouldn't when presented with such a vibrant woman with never-ending love for all those that she came across. She was also beautiful, her raven hair gleaming with the light of the sun and her brown orbs like pools of chocolate, such a combination of warmth and while he could see that she was looking a little worse for wear she was still beautiful to him.

"Nowhere...well, I was looking for my group of course, but since I don't know where I am now...well, that makes it hard to know where to even look," she said, stuttering slightly as unease set in, and with a good mixture of feelings that were becoming a familiar background noise in her mind. She needed to get over that, but she wasn't sure if she ever could. She really needed to talk to Sango, her friend was her best bet to get a clear mind. Her friend knew those feelings best herself, in fact she had told Kagome all about it within the first few days of their meetings. Telling Kagome later that talking to her and helped to alleviate some of those feelings, but that until she resolved the final piece of her puzzle that she would always feel the guilt. Her brother was the reason for that last bout of guilt for her. She felt guilty that her brother had fallen into Naraku's clutches and while it was unfounded, Sango still wanted to find her brother to resolve it.

"Ah, well, you can stay with my family for the time being," the brunette stated with a smile. "At least then you can get some rest and get over whatever is plaguing you." She wanted to correct him, that the fact of the matter was this whatever he was talking about wouldn't be resolved so quickly. It would be at least another eight months in the making. That thought made her wonder something that had never quite made its way into her thoughts and now it swirled in the mess that was her mind. Would having a demon's child.. or half demon in this case, would it mean the pregnancy time was different than her own knowledge. Was nine months the norm for demons like humans or would it be shorter...or longer? She wasn't sure which one worried her the most, that she would be a mother sooner than she was ready for at this moment or the fact that it would be longer, more time for her worries to fester in her mind. Shaking those thoughts away, to swirl in the back of her mind with all the others that seemed to flail around back there, she nodded at his proposal. Thankful that she would be able to rest, eat and possibly work out a way to find her friends.

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Said friends weren't as far as she thought, in fact if she had gone for another week she would have found them...in the other direction. As it was they would find her soon enough, with the two dog demons in their pack now. Koga hadn't wanted to join them, his complaint of their mutt smell his reason though the others in the group knew it was because of said dog demons and the power the pair had to knock him senseless or kill him and while said pair of demons weren't happy to allow him into the combined pack they would have done it to find the Miko. Another Miko tracked behind them, keeping herself unseen as she watched them from the woods that lined the fields they were running thru.

"Where the fuck did she go?" Inuyasha grumbled, and not for the first time in as many days either. They had been on the road for almost a week now, following the breezes that seemed to hold a faint smell of the raven haired woman to them. He was the most frustrated out of all of them and even though he never voiced his frustrations in a way that they could understand why he was so frustrated they knew. It wasn't hard to tell that the pair of them, Inuyasha and Kagome, failed to notice what was right in front of them and the cause of this was Kikyo and the fact that Inuyasha had grown up under the assumption that Hanyous were unlovable. That they would never find a mate in life, much less a person on which would allow them such a defilement. He still saw it that way and that would be because of Kikyo again. Kikyo was a big obstacle in the their life...in their feelings. Kikyo had been the first one to accept the Hanyou...well, in some ways. She accepted that he was human, abet half human. They knew of her wish for him to be fully human. Sango had heard it from Kagome and well, Sango had told Miroku. The pair had analyzed this and found that Kikyo must not have loved Inuyasha at all, a revelation that he had also come to once meeting Kagome. She loved him for all he was, but because of Kikyo again she didn't reveal those feelings. A fear that she would get in his way. She wanted him to be happy and that was love in the most purest form. She didn't care if she was happy with his decision, but she would bear that pain to let him be happy.

Even if he didn't voice his own feelings on the small future born Miko, his actions spoke volumes. And between the two that adage was both true and yet those actions had yet to let the couple know that they were fools. Failing to see that they were both hurting each other while also attempting to do just that...not hurt each other. They weren't just clueless though, they were so caught up in trying to ignore their own desires and to not cause the other any undue pain that they were doing it in a way that was far worse than if they just spit it out. "One of these days we need to lock them in a hut and leave them there for a week," Miroku stated, no smile as he was truly serious. Sango nodded. They were both so sad that their friends were hurting and it was something that could be cleared if they just admitted to their actual feelings.

"Would still be like pulling teeth," the slayer said with a sigh as she clung to Kirara's almost golden fur. "Inuyasha is too set in his beliefs to ever tell her how he feels. Like it would hurt to know that she didn't feel that way about him, even if it's so obvious to all of us." At this Shippo, who was riding between the pair, nodded. He knew how the pair felt about each other and he was just a kid. He couldn't understand Inuyasha's failure to read the very open Miko, but then again he could also understand how he felt on his Hanyou status. It wasn't something his own father or mother had talked about, but they had also felt rather uneasy about such a creature to exist when humans and demons fought so hard to stay separate for the same reason...safety. They didn't feel that safe with each other and that was something that could cause any relationship harm. Safety was just another word for trust. If you couldn't trust the one that lay beside you at night, the one that was there when you were most vulnerable then was it a safe relationship? No, no it wasn't and without that guarantee of safety there was no trust to be had and such the foundation of your relationship crumbled. It was just that simple.

"My brother has never been one to speak his mind in such matters," Sesshomaru stated, coldly as he passed close to them. He had heard their conversation and knew their stories all to well. He too had once hated humans and while he felt no love for their race in particular, he knew that not all humans were bad. No, Rin, his ward was one example of that and while she was a child in more ways than one she hadn't ever shown fear of him. No, she trusted that he would keep her safe and while he felt he had failed her more than once she never wavered in that trust of him. If anything she had grown more attached to him while still showing that she could, like him, be independent. Asking him for things that at times when not even Jaken dared to voice. The Miko, Kagome was like that as well, not in the childish sense. She wasn't all that afraid of him and her love for his brother was so obvious to him. She would die for him and of that he was certain. She had trust in the male even when he went after the clay doll that he too was sure was behind all the pain that the Miko had in her aura. She hadn't had that the first time they had met. While he was trying to kill her and Inuyasha during that first meeting he had seen the unconditional love and trust she had for his brother...Until the very woman who had sealed his brother to a tree after betraying him had come back to life. He scoffed. Life. That was a rather loose term for what she held now. She wasn't anything but a soul, one she had stolen to his understanding, that was lost in time...stuck to forever hate her former lover and to yearn for not only his death to sooth her hate, but to keep him at her side and allow no one to come in between them.

Rin had that with him too. Unconditional love and trust and while he had always found such emotions of humans to be weak he would never allow her to leave his side. No, those same emotions fed him the strength that he had never known he had. The need to protect her strong enough to return those feelings that were, even now, so new and foreign to him. There was just one difference between the two humans. The era's they had grown up in. Rin was taught at a young age to fear ones such as he and Kagome, from what he could gather, had never had to deal with his kind and yet, they both opened their hearts to them. Allowed them to lead them by the hand without fear, trusting they would never harm them.

"Well, that's too bad," Sango growled lowly to his surprise. She was a slayer and that meant she hunted his kind and yet, here she was with not only a half demon, but a full one right behind her. His brother's group was an enigma. Shaking his head they were all brought to attention when Inuyasha snapped at them.

"Oi, what the fuck are you all getting so chummy about?" he growled, turning to look at them as he continued to run in front of them. "We ain't go time for this! You're slowing us down." They knew he wasn't really mad at them, but even so Sango shot him a glare, his own eyes narrowing at her in challenge. He wasn't going to back down on this one. He had to find the missing Miko and he had to do it soon. She was vital to his wellbeing...well, to their upcoming battle. When no one said anything he shot back out in front, speeding up as the sun began to descend and yet he made no mention of camping down for the night. This had been an ongoing trend for the last few days. He refused to stop for a break, even knowing that not only the humans in his pack needed it, but that even Kirara couldn't run forever with no food or rest.

"We shall be making camp," Sesshomaru said suddenly, slowing his own running to tend to his ward. When Inuyasha growled at this impendence to their search, his brother just shot him a look that both Sango and Miroku nodded at. They were also getting tired of searching and having been on the road for almost twelve hours with no break they needed to rest. Taking that Sesshomaru would back them up they also voiced their needs to the irritated Hanyou before he finally slowed down, cursing a grumbling that he didn't need to stop. No he needed to find Kagome and get her back by his side. The others failed to hear that part as they were farther behind him and with a final stop just six feet from them he looked to the forest that they were coming up upon. He felt his demon fighting him, wanting to keep going even if he knew that his brother and the pack were right. They needed to break, to sleep because they would be no good if they weren't up for a fight that could well be waiting in that very forest. The fact that they had yet to run into Naraku at this time spoke volumes as to what the spider demon was narrowing his own sight on. Kagome. They were all looking for the Miko and until they found her they would have no rest.

I hope you're okay. Turning to join his pack in setting up camp his eyes fell on the yellow bag that Miroku was unloading from while his brother went off to hunt for more food to feed the now expanding group. He could feel his anger return for the small woman who was missing, the one that should really be setting up their camp as she always had. She had acted like a pack mother of sorts for their group. As if they were mates taking care of their own little group and he missed that. Missed seeing her smile and hearing her stories that she told Shippo before bed. He missed seeing her studying her books that she seemed to hate even as she told him it was something she had to do. But, he was angry too. She had blindsided him with both her marking, mating and then a pup that wasn't his. Would he ever be able to get over the fact that even if she accepted him at some point in the future that he wouldn't be her first mate, her babies wouldn't be his first. It was a pride thing for most to be the only one that had touched their mate, but for him it was much more than that. What it was? He couldn't put a name to it. Sighing he moved to sit next to the bag, Rin talking cheerfully with Miroku as he pulled more items out of the bag, her curiosity reminding him of the times that they all had seen her modern contraptions and her clothing, some of which was still in the yellow bag. Sighing he began to block them all out as he thought of where the young woman could be.

He would just have to learn how to get past it because even though she had done something that had hurt him, she truly wasn't the only one to blame. He could take some of that blame as well. He had been stuck to her like glue that night, even after trying to keep her from indulging in the sake at their table, but even after she had he had tried to keep all the males in the room away from her. Yes, he was possessive of her, even if he had yet to mark her with his teeth at that point. He had scent marked her for cripes sake! Another demon should have taken that hint and fucked off, but like his brother had stated. Naraku wasn't a true demon or even a half demon at that. He wouldn't know such a thing, but he should have known that he had fucked up by messing with a woman that didn't like him. No, she hated him even if she felt a little guilty for feeling such an immense hate for any creature. Sighing he felt his stomach roll in unease at the thought that she had enjoyed that night and he felt the bile rise in his throat at that very thought, but he knew...dammit, he knew she wouldn't have enjoyed such a moment with that vile monster that had claimed her. Even then, the bile refused to return to his stomach and lurching off he found a safe place, one where the others could not see to empty what little food he had in his stomach. As he stood there, leaning with one hand against the tree he found confusion filling him at his actions. He had never been one to throw up over anything, save for the strong smell of blood or ink, but even those never caused his body to actually vomit.

Strange...

Mate...need mate...


	12. Chapter 12

Kagome walked into the library in Hojo's large castle, the home so ornate and beautiful with all the artifacts that seemed to fill the home to compacity. She had been in his home for a few days now and still found so much new things to read, or to look at. She knew her grandfather would have died in a place such as this, so full of all the history that he loved to talk about...even if no one was listening. It made her sad to think about, the tears welling up at the thought that she hadn't been home in what felt like forever. She wondered if her family was thinking about her and wondering as to why she had been absent for so long, but she knew that while they may worry about her long absence from her own time they also trusted that not only did she know how to take care of herself, but that she was with Inuyasha, and that they trusted him with her life. That just brought more misery down upon her. She had yet to find out if anyone had seen them, Hojo being so nice as to have one of his many scouts out and about looking for her friends while she rested here.

It had been strange at first, being in a new place, in an unfamiliar bed at night, but thru it all she was just glad that she wasn't lost and alone in a world that, while she had spent so much time in, was unfamiliar to her past where they usually roamed. Then again, she didn't know how far she was since no one in this time, save for her group, knew about Tokyo...it wasn't called that yet and again that made her emotions fly all over the place. In all the time that she had spent here she hadn't even bothered to find out what the area where Kaede's village was called. She knew it wasn't named after Kaede since the woman didn't own the small village herself, and while Inuyasha's forest was well known by their village, no one else knew it by that name. At least as far as she knew. She had never asked another soul if they knew of the infamous Hanyou and his stint on the God Tree. Walking past the shelves that were filled with scrolls, ones she knew would become a wonderful library in her time, she touched the wood that housed them. She was filled with a sense of wonder that she would see such fine artifacts before they became that. Of course it wouldn't be long in the making as she knew the time for it to become real.

"You feeling better?" Hojo asked as he entered the large room. He had been watching her for a moment, noting how graceful she was, but also noting that there were indeed changes in the woman before him. She glowed in a strange way, or maybe it was the light that filtered in from the outside that made it seem that she was glowing. Whatever it was it made her appear untouchable at the angle he had been viewing her from. Kagome turned to him, her brown eyes still looking sad, before stating that she felt a little better. "You still don't want any medicine?" She had been so torn on telling him of her condition, but she had held back, unsure of how it would look in this era. An unmarried woman, pregnant and unsure of the father who had sired her unborn child. Even now she felt that Naraku was lying, and when wasn't the evil fucker doing that to twist things the way he wanted them? Then again, maybe knowing she was pregnant would hit home that she was in dire straits and really needed to get back to her friends. Not that he wasn't doing all he could do, but with her condition and the fact that she was still on the run from Naraku, yeah, she was in some dire straits. She did want to fight the bastard, but she wasn't stupid enough to go in by herself. No, she had been gun ho about doing that before, but now that she had had sleep, had been fed enough to actually have some strength and time...she had had some time to think and she knew that was suicidal for her to even think that she could do it alone.

"Truthfully," she said, pausing to make sure she had his attention. "It probably will be an on and off thing for a while." She waited, waited for him to get the hint without her saying it, but after what felt like hours and judging by the look on his face, well, let's just say he and his descendant were not that much different save for the hair style and the fact that his eyes weren't as large as the Hojo in her time.

"I can get more herbs if you need it...or a doctor," he said, rushing to add the last part when she shook her head. No, she didn't want those things? What did she need and what did she mean by it wo- "Oh," he said and she saw his hurt, it reflected in his blue eyes. He was so easy to read and while she was understandably confused as to why he was so hurt by her news and not upset or even trying to throw her out she waited. "Is he the father?" he asked, knowing that she would guess who he was talking about. She looked down, ashamed that she didn't know that answer, but that it couldn't be him. No, Inuyasha didn't look at her like that. Somewhere in the back of her mind she scoffed that she would even lie to herself. She wasn't ashamed that she didn't know. She was ashamed that it wasn't him. Big difference!

"Truthfully, no, not him, but that's all I'm comfortable with saying," she said, her face turning a slight pink with the uncomfortable feeling that came with her admission. She wouldn't want to tell anyone that she was going to be a single mother, no, that wasn't as bad as not knowing who the father was, but it was still a sting to her heart and that organ was already suffering enough. "So, when are you going to get to building that library?" He knew what she was trying to do, and while he wanted to push her for more answers he knew that he was wrong to pry. She didn't need that right now and he also found that he wanted to know who had taken her for their own. Still, he answered her questions as the pair spent their time looking into his extensive collection.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inuyasha sniffed the air as the sun rose high in the sky above the group, most of them were still sleeping while others, like Sesshomaru and he, were wide awake. They didn't need that much sleep as a human did, but demons like Shippo did. He was still a kid after all. There was something out there, something that had his nose twitching with every breeze that blew softly and he didn't like it. There were humans that were maybe just a few yards out, a group of them and then there was something else...something both familiar and something he didn't want to deal with at this juncture. As he closed his eyes for a moment he heard his brother release a soft sigh, one that spoke volumes even if it wasn't all that clear to others who didn't know the dog demon.

"Are you going to see what she wants?" Sesshomaru asked, quite unhappy it seemed with their company. After all, this dead Miko had caused more than enough trouble in his opinion. Golden eyes opened at that question, noting with a frustrated feeling that seemed to come whenever the other Miko called for him. He didn't want to go to her. After thinking it thru on this journey to find Kagome, he didn't trust Kikyo and her ideals on his life or who he had close to him. No, she wasn't needed or wanted in his life. He owed her nothing.

"I don't particularly care what she wants," he stated. "I don't owe her anything but the death of Naraku and that is all she's gonna get from me." His brother chuckled at that, an amused sound that was uncommon to be heard of from his cold brother. It had to be because of that girl that he kept in his care. The soul collectors chose that moment to circle around his group and that upset him. Growling low he stood up from his spot in the tree that overlooked their camp, but soon he found that he wasn't the only one upset with her creatures circling them. His brother now moved to strike down the slithering forms as they moved to close to not only him, but his ward.

"Well, either tell her to fuck off or find out what the hell she wants," he hissed as he struck another one down. "I don't want her or her creatures anywhere near my ward." Inuyasha could understand that and while he did he also hated that she would allow such an intrusion, but then again she wasn't the person she had been before her death. Not that he could figure since while they had shared time together he wasn't aware of all her personality flaws. This was what it was to him. A flaw that could be from her revived form or a former one that he had no clue about.

"What the hell, Inuyasha!" Sango growled as she began to swipe at the newest soul collector to replace the others that were disappearing in the wind, dust that was left behind with each death. "Tell your stupid bitch to keep her shit to herself." Her yelling only seemed to cause more problems as the others awoke to the appearance of the creatures. Rin seemed scared as she clung to Sesshomaru, who was upset for that very reason while Sango and Jaken joined into killing the bothersome pests. Even Miroku seemed offended by the things, though he was less verbal about it as he slammed one into the group before pulling out sutras to place around their campsite. As the sutras were placed in strategic places the soul collectors burned as they tried to enter the circle. Shippo awoke then, rubbing his eyes at the feeling of said sutras and the sounds and smells of the collectors dying that hit him.

Sighing Inuyasha got ready to go to his former flame only to be held back by Miroku, a serious look on his face. "Do you really want to go and see her now?" Kagome wasn't here to bother with the fact that he was once again leaving to respond to his summoning by the dead Miko. He thought about and knew without a doubt that he really didn't want to go to her. He had a more important task to complete. Finding Kagome was upmost at this point, but he knew that they couldn't travel with the sutras around them so it was the only option. It was as if the monk knew his dilemma. "We can wait until she comes to you...or we could all confront her with you." Miroku knew that neither one of these would please the Miko, but he could care less and he knew the people with them would love a chance to confront the dead woman.

It didn't take very long for a rather peeved off Miko to arrive and while she did arrive, she took her time, watching them as she approached. She noted that the slayer looked irritated with her, the monk looked unconcerned, the fox kit was neither as he was trying to sooth a small child that was hiding behind the demon that stared her down with a look that she was sure would have killed her if he possessed such a power. The toad demon, he was glaring her down as well. As if I care about them. Inuyasha was looking rather pissed off as well, his golden orbs narrowed at her as he tensed. She could feel the tension coming off of him in waves and she found it more irritating than the fact that he had not come when she had summoned. He always had before and while at times he had been open to her cold affections he wasn't anymore. He had started to come to her in a foul mood before it became a task to get him to come to her at all and now it seemed that he had gained a backbone. "Inuyasha, come, we must talk."

"No." It was a simple answer and yet the confusion on her face made him continue, "I am too busy to even bear your presence and even if I wasn't I have nothing to say to you unless you have news about Naraku." Scowling at him, his words making her skin burn in anger, if she could even flush in this body. He didn't want her anymore and she knew it was because of the girl. That trashy little copy of hers.

"She doesn't want you, Inuyasha. Can't you see that she has spread h-"

"SHUT UP!" he bellowed, his voice shaking as he allowed his anger to take over. He didn't have time for this pettiness. No, Kagome needed him and he needed to get to her, even his demon was growling low in his mind. She's a threat to mate. He couldn't agree more at that moment. He needed to get on the road and now! "If what you have to say is not concerning our fucking mutual enemy than I have nothing to say or hear from you." It was a final statement, no one needed to add anything and she knew it, but she opened her mouth to speak and again she was cut off.

"I think he made his point," Sango spit out with venom threading thru her tone. Kikyo shot her a dirty look, one that reflected on how she felt about the added comment. She had no love for this group and if she had it her way she would have them gone from her life. They were a bad influence on the male before her, but instead of saying anything she gave him a look full of promises to finish this conversation... privately, but he stared her down. He wanted her to say something. His demon was thirsting for a chance to tear into her. Not only for the fact she had wanted to get rid of it to begin with, but for Kagome as well. She deserved nothing but that since she had opened her mouth with such blasphemous words toward the woman he claimed as his mate. She walked away, her soul collectors following closely to her as she disappeared into the thicket.

"I don't think she will dare to come back," Jaken stated, sure that once she had been stared down by his lord that she would be wise enough to stay back, but his lord held another view completely on that matter.

"No, she will," he stated as Miroku began to remove the sutras only to look up as a group of men, a small one consisting of only five men, appeared from the left of where Kikyo had gone.

"Now what?!" the Hanyou growled, tired of all the visitors they had had this morning. He wanted to get on the road, his demon was coming to the surface and while he wanted to hold it back he also wanted to get on with their journey, the prize at the end of said excursion his missing Miko. The group watched them, one of them removing a paper from a pouch on his waist, taking only a look at its contents before returning it to where he had retrieved it. He looked to the others with him, saying something that even the demons couldn't hear from that distance.

"Hey!" one of them called out, his voice carrying across the clearing. Inuyasha growled, but noted that the men didn't approach and they didn't pull any weapons out, so what did they want? No one said anything, all of them waiting for the men to continue. "Are you Inuyasha?" He moved then, his group hurrying to clean up as the Hanyou and his brother approached, both on alert and not only from the fact that Kikyo could still come out, but from how these humans knew his name and what they wanted with him. As soon as they were mere feet from the men, Inuyasha stated that he was who they thought he was.

"Yeah, that's my name and what is it to you?" he spat, still irritated as to being held up.

"We were sent to find you by our lord's guest," the one that was the leader as the others remained silent, though their eyes spoke volumes of how they felt coming to retrieve the Hanyou, but they would do as their lord requested. "They are but a few days travel from here."

"And whom is your lord's guest?" Sesshomaru inquired, notching a brow up at their vagueness. Did they think they had found the wrong person?

"A Lady Kagome." That was all it took for the rest of the members, who had just come up on them, to share shocked and elated reactions to the news. Inuyasha felt his body relax, for the first time since this had all started. That tension returned though when it struck him that Kagome was with a lord of all people. Who did they know that was a lord or was it just someone who had found her and when asked she had supplied who she had been traveling with? And how long had she been with this lord? Sesshomaru shot his brother a look, telling him to move as he turned to ensure his ward was close as he inclined his head to tell the men to lead the way. They hesitated at his gesture, confused since the woman with the lord had said nothing about another demon in the group save for the Hanyou and a fox kit, but then turned to head back to their home. The rest of them followed behind, all thinking along the lines of Inuyasha.


	13. Chapter 13

Kagome had been resting in her room, having woken up early in the morning to catch her morning sickness before it caught her. While it hadn't been that bad before, she wasn't sure why it was now, she found that it crept up on her around the same time every morning for the last two days at least. So she had started waking up earlier to stop it from having its way, a bit of bread and warm tea the best solution so far. Even then sometimes it grabbed her out of nowhere, and that she was still trying to figure out. Stretching out on the pallet she closed her eyes again, trying to recall now a dream that had come to her last night, her mind trying to pull apart her own feelings while images of the dreams were still semi-fresh in her mind. She could see herself that night, stumbling down the corridor of the large estate, looking for the rooms that had been given them by the lord. Kagome had remembered wishing she had Inuyasha's strong sense of smell because maybe then she could have scented out their room by find Sago or Miroku, hell, Shippo and Kirara had long retired before the drinking had begun after getting some food in their bellies. She could have found that room if she had his sense of smell. She had suddenly felt her body tilt, the consumption of sake making her balance a little off at the moment, but for some reason, even now several weeks later she just couldn't understand why she had been feeling so off balance that night. Sure, she had consumed a few glasses of the warm liquid, but that didn't explain her forgetting that night since she had been quite coherent that night, save for the slight tilting of her world.

She had walked out into the courtyard and having seen the hot springs that had been pointed out earlier that night by one of her many male suitors, though she hadn't been in any mood for all the attention since she only had eyes for one male at that table and he had been practically curled around her...well, not practically because he had been curled around her...growling at said male attention. At this point that was all she could remember of the dream, but now she knew it wasn't a dream, not really. It was her mind subconsciously trying to tell her what had happened. Was there a reason she couldn't remember that night? Had it been so traumatic, if Naraku had been her lover it would have been. Shuddering at that thought she finally rose from the pallet, her mind refusing to allow her to go back to sleep now that she was brimming with all those same worries, guilty thoughts, and shameful memories. Shedding the sleeping kimono she pulled on one of the many kimonos that Hojo had given her, claiming that his mother always kept extra ones for when guests came unexpectedly. She didn't know if she could believe that, but she was still thankful since her own clothing had been beyond repairable in her opinion. Her stomach grumbled at her as she finished dressing and with a soft smile she headed off to find something to actual eat. As she walked into the hall she found she was the only one awake, then again it was still early for most people, the sun hadn't even rose yet meaning she had gotten maybe five hours or so of good sleep before her sickness could rear its ugly head.

Walking down the hall, the library just before her, she turned toward it when the sound of someone walking around the veranda outside caught her attention. Hmmm... Who was up at this early hour? Well, the servants could be, after all keeping up with such a grand estate was a never-ending task, she was sure. Continuing into the library she went to grasp a scroll, her fingers just about to wrap around it when someone screamed and with a lurch she was off, wondering as to what could be happening so early in day, when she found out why. A demon had come into the courtyard and was intent on making one of the servant girls its early breakfast. Looking around for something to grab its attention she found nothing close by so taking the initiative she rushed out to help the girl, her hands glowing with her pink light while a faint taint of darkness still clung to it. Shoving outward at it she managed to knock it off, its flesh burning from her purifying touch, before she turned to tell the girl to run and to get a guard or someone while she attended to fighting the demon off. It was a snake demon, its long body curling around its wound as it eyed her, orange eyes glowing brightly at her.

She narrowed her own brown gaze at it, letting it know that she wasn't afraid of it, holding out her hands as the glow from before returned just as several guards appeared behind her. They stood at attention, ready to fight, but also watching her in awe and fascination as she waited for another attack. The snake eyed her for a moment, seeming to debate whether it wanted to kill her or retreat and come back at a later time to finish what it had started, but what should have been its retreat changed as a cry broke the air followed by several familiar marks that tore the body asunder. "Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" Her eyes widened for a moment, her power receding as she turned to see Inuyasha slice the pathetic demon into shreds, its body turning to dust as he dropped down before her. His back was to her as he stayed in attack mode. She felt relief and happiness at his sudden appearance, while another part of her reminded her of how he had spoken to her before, the last time they had seen each other and the shame returned with anger backing it now. She took a step back from him, trying to conceal her scent, the feelings that made her reveal her innermost angst to him by scent alone. She didn't want him to know that, not now, not with her feelings all over the place with not only her own shameful moment, but from her hormones all over the place. She knew that that was part of the reason for all the pain and pleasure she was feeling right now, looking at his fire-rat robe, but once she took that first step away from him he turned his golden gaze on her and she was frozen. "Where have you been?" he asked, his voice was low and she didn't have an answer for him, her mind was whirling around with all the things that she was still trying to figure out, but she did notice one thing. He didn't ask how she was and that brought her anger up another notch.

"I don't have to answer that, ya know," she spat, her eyes flashing in warning as Hojo now joined them, answering the question that had been next on his list. He growled low at the other male, another rival for Kagome's attentions, but she just turned to greet the other male.

"Everything okay?" he asked her, noting his guard was out in full force, the servant that was still close by crying, her clothing bloodied from the attack on her and the Hanyou he had sent his scouts to find for the woman before him. Moments later more of the group entered, and more people he hadn't heard of from the Miko. "Oh, seems there are more people than I was told." Kagome took note of the fact that Sesshomaru was there with his small group as well, the small girl that travelled with him running to great her with a hug. Hugging the girl back without a second thought she apologized.

"Everything if fine now," she said as her stomach warned her of its turbulence, her hand going down to touch her now hard stomach. "Just a weak demon trying to find breakfast." She said it as if it were nothing and she had yet to look back at Inuyasha which was notching up the swirling of her stomach contents. "And, yeah, I wasn't expecting there to be more than my own group," she said softly, her fingers brushing against Rin's hair unconsciously as she soothed the small girl and herself by the motion. "This is Lord Sesshomaru," she said, nodding toward the rather intimidating male before them, "and this is Rin, his ward and Jaken." Hojo looked over at the tall male, feeling the urge to piss himself at the mere sight of such a cold looking demon on his grounds, his guards watching the male with open curiosity and contempt. They still feared what a demon could do to them even if the small woman knew him. She was strange herself, but knowing she was a Miko helped to keep their fears at bay.

"Oookay, um, breakfast is ready now," he said, holding out his arm, completely thrown off by all the excitement of the morning, but pulled back when he heard the growl from behind him, Kagome tensing at the sound from the Hanyou behind her. To everyone's surprise she stuck her nose in the air after just a moment's hesitation and hooking her arm in Hojo's she headed for the interior of the home. The man on her arm was tense, he could feel the sweat that was practically bathing his form in it's perfumed scent of fear and Inuyasha could smell it. While it made him glad to know that the male knew who the female belonged to, it still did nothing to assuage the anger that flowed from him at the fact Kagome was not submitting to his will. Giving himself a shake he shoved his demon to the back of his mind and tried to look ticked off, but not angry. No, truthfully he had nothing to be angry about since she wasn't his to dominate.

Not yet, his demon added with a sinful chuckle. Shut up, he hissed back at it. Hojo glanced back at him, his whole form still shaking until Kagome whispered to him and then his scent changed. Joy filled the Hanyou's nostrils and he found himself fighting the urge to yank her from the younger male's arm and claim her right in front of everyone. "Ka-go-me," he hissed under his breath and knowing by her body posture that she had heard him, but was ignoring him for the moment. He was going to call to her again when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"I wouldn't do it," he said, Miroku smirking with such a knowing look that Inuyasha wondered what he was talking about when the monk plucked at his beads and he gulped. Ah, yeah, those things. Seems that with all that was going on that both of them had forgotten the beads of subjugation and he wasn't going to be the one to remind her of their power...if she had truly forgotten such power she held over him in such a blatant way. She had no idea of the other hold she had one him, on that had been fostered the moment he had opened his eyes after his 50 year long sleep to see her before him. At first he had thought the hold was because of who he thought she was, sleep thick in his brain. They all entered a large dining area, servants making room for the extra guests, tho Jaken opted to sit away from the humans with Sesshomaru joining him on the wall, his golden eyes watching as Rin squealed in joy before shooting him a glance to see if he had seen her. Noting that he was giving her a look, though to anyone else it didn't look like his face had changed at all, she relaxed and found a seat next to Kagome. Hojo went to sit on her other side, but Inuyasha was faster, cutting in to sit down next to her with a glare at the other male.

"Inuy-" she began, thinking of what a long meal this was going to be, only to be cut off by Hojo.

"It's f-fine," he managed with only a slight hitch in his breath as he moved to sit a few seats down when the Hanyou continued to glare from his presence still being too close to Kagome and himself. He didn't like the male and he wasn't afraid to say it, but when he noticed that Kagome scooted a few inches from him he turned his golden orbs on her in question. She didn't look at him, waiting as the staff of the castle moved to place food before everyone, even giving the dog demon and his lackey some of the human food. Sesshomaru looked at it with disgust, but since he too needed to eat and it was meat after all, he ate it. As the silence carried on, the only sounds were from Shippo and Rin, who as children, paid little attention to the tension in the room as they chatted happily. "So, Kagome told me that you are after a new enemy," he stated, taking another bite from his meal. Sango stated, that yes, they were after an enemy that they had been fighting for a while and why it was so important, Miroku adding his two cents here and there.

"Why does it matter?" Inuyasha snapped. He wasn't here to talk after all! He was here to take Kagome so they could continue their task of finding the bastard and nothing more. Now you're lying to yourself about that last part, his demon taunted. Kagome shot him a look, her eyes crackling with her anger. "Oi," he grumbled, "What's the matter wench?" The whole room fell silent, Sesshomaru smirking at the emotions that were boiling under the surface of the Miko next to his brother. When would the whelp learn to shut his mouth? Shaking his head he waited for the explosion of her emotions. If what he had been told by them was true than it was best that Inuyasha learn to curb himself because pregnant demons were hardly nice to their mate when taunted or belittled, and while he wasn't sure if it was the same with human females he knew that the gender could be entirely destructive.

She said nothing, but her eyes centered on the necklace in a silent threat that seemed to work because with a single 'keh' he finished his meal and stormed off in just a matter of moments. Sighing she turned her attention to her own food to find that she was no longer hungry. She knew she needed to eat, so with small bites of her food she managed to finish it as the others waited before joining her in their own meal. Sesshomaru had to admit that while she hadn't blown up like he expected after witnessing a few times she had chewed his brother out in a rather loud display, he was quite scared of the burn of her brown orbs. Silent women could be just as scary as a loud one.

It didn't take long for the group to gather, ready to go save for Kagome and Inuyasha, the pair still avoiding each other, well, Kagome was more or less the main avoider. She didn't come out until a little later, her clothing changed to what Inuyasha himself wore, save for it was not a fire rat outfit and it was black, like a mourning outfit, but for now she didn't mind. She couldn't travel in that kimono as it was too long to be comfortable for her so she had taken the offered male attire to wear for their journey. Now she just had to go home, and with a groan that bore the frustration of that conversation with the irritated Hanyou, she headed off to join her group. When she came over to them she noticed that Sesshomaru was still here, and why didn't know why he was there, she accepted it. It was just how her group went, but then did that mean he was going to help them search for the elusive Naraku or was he here for a different reason? "Miko," the older male stated, knowing she would come without another word spoken. Indeed she did come toward him, but when she came closer he could feel it, the shame that had tainted her aura. Though, he could feel the guilt there as well. This was going to be an interesting conversation, but one that needed to be had if he were to find out if it was true what her friends had divulged to him. "Miko, is what I have been told true?" It was simple and asked in a much better way than Inuyasha had asked her if she had sex with Naraku. Any yet she could hear the anger that tinted his tone, his cold tone that was scary enough without the anger. She felt like she was four again when her mother had found out that she had run away from daycare after another kid had shoved her, calling her names because of her weird powers.

"I don't know," she stated simply. It was a vague answer and one that was better than the comment that wanted to come. She hated this part of the pregnancy side effects...she had become rather snarky over little things and while she knew she was no quiet person on her own, she knew her temper wasn't this bad. Though the other side of the coin was just as bad.

"You either are or you are not claimed and pregnant," he stated, not even acknowledging, she was sure, that her friends would have told him about Naraku being a part of that equation. She nodded now, understanding he just wanted to know about the after effects of her one night of sexual relations. "Okay," he said before he moved, moved so quickly she didn't know what to say when his hand came in contact with her stomach. He stood there, his fingers spread over her abdominal, the power in her stomach pushing back at the power he was producing. Everyone stood there, watching, some in fear of what the dog demon was doing and others just wondering. Inuyasha came around the corner and his eyes narrowed when he saw the sight before him, his golden eyes flashing red at his brother's hand on Kagome's stomach and the shocked look on her face.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" he growled as he moved to remove the other male's hand on his Kagome's body, but he was stopped when Miroku placed his staff outward of his own body and in front of the irate Hanyou. His red eyes sent a warning to the beta of his pack, Sango whispering harsh words of warning to the monk to stand back, but the monk refused to do that until Sesshomaru voiced that it was okay.

"It is fine, monk," he said as he pulled back from Kagome, the feeling of his power still tingling her skin, her body stiff as the power in her stomach, her child began to calm down to a fine hum. "I was just checking on the pups." Checking on the pup? Could one do that without machines? Kagome didn't know since she knew that in this time not even the sex of the child was known until birth. Then it hit her.

Pups? As in multiple babies? Kagome could feel the world shift on her, turn her upside down as she touched the very spot he had just vacated, Inuyasha coming to her side just as the word escaped her lips, "Pups," she whispered as the world went black and she slumped into his waiting arms.


	14. Chapter 14

Instead of waiting for the Miko to wake back up, Inuyasha pulled her onto his back and with one word to the group they were off, though he did shoot his brother a look. Sesshomaru knew something and while it was bothering him he decided to wait until the woman on his back to wake up. Shifting his hands he felt her sigh in her unconscious state before snuggling into him. He tensed slightly, her body pushing against him such a way that was creating that yearning again. He had been feeling this way for so long, but since she had never given him any clue as to how she felt and him being under the assumption that she saw him as only a friend, he had never acted on that feeling. It was becoming so hard to fight it though. They had shared a kiss, one that had been unforgettable, her taste still fresh on his mind, but he wouldn't mind a refresher on that taste. Too bad it had only been her attempt to wake him from his complete demon side, his human side trapped in mirror. Sango moved closer to him, her brown eyes softening at the look on his face, the pain he was feeling so open for anyone to see. Why couldn't Kagome see that he wanted her, that he loved her as much as she loved him? Then again, why didn't the male see what she was doing just to prevent his own recognition of her own unspoken feelings? That was easy. He was a male, like Miroku who failed time and time again to see that she hurt when his hands wandered to other women or when he asked them to birth his children.

What sucked on that side was that he had begun to express those same words to her and while she loved him, at least what she thought was love since she had never experienced it for herself, she didn't know if he could be faithful to her. They had never kissed, never said anything, no, he just touched her bottom all the time, never asking her to bear his children and that hurt. She could forgive him since Kagome had once pointed out that he didn't have long to live and while they were trying to change that for him there was a slim chance that he wouldn't make it to that day, at least from his point of view. She felt that they could defeat Naraku and spare him the fate that had befallen all of his male ancestors...including his father. She could understand that since she was lucky herself to be alive after all her clan were killed all those years ago, but still, it hurt none the less. "Hey, what are you thinking about?" Miroku inquired as he leaned close, his breath causing a tingle to crawl across her body in a pleasant manner. Shaking those thoughts aside she glanced over at Kagome, still out like a light. She couldn't imagine all the girl was going thru. No, those were things she had never done, and while it was a happy moment that she was safe and healthy she knew that Kagome was torn, as their talk just a while back told her.

"I was thinking about Kagome...and Inuyasha," she murmured, moving Kirara back so they could talk a little more privately, though she felt that the Hanyou in question should hear some of what she had to say. "Kagome is so hurt, so ashamed of what happened that night and Inuyasha can't seem to understand that she feels that way because of her feelings for him and he, well, he's hurt for the same reason, but he feels betrayed because on top of that she lied about what happened, save for the baby and the marking. She didn't know about what one meant and in her time they told her she wasn't expecting." He nodded, waiting for her to say more. He knew this was eating at her, it had for a long time and he felt it too. Their friends deserved happiness and while Kagome had friends and family, the Hanyou had nothing before them. Kagome was happy with her life, but she longed to be with the Hanyou above all else and Inuyasha needed her, he had never been open with his feelings and that was what was causing some of the fracture between the two. She had given him so much and maybe she didn't realize it, but without her not only would none of them be together in the group they were in, but Inuyasha would not only be on the tree she had found him but he wouldn't have friends...a pack that was his own. "As for Kagome, can you imagine anything worse than forgetting your first time? To not know who you had given such a gift to?"

"No, I can't say that I can understand that, but I lost mine so long ago," he said and while that thought alone made her grimace she knew who he was and still loved him for it, even if it meant that she would never be his first. Still, in her time it wasn't uncommon for a male to find companionship before marriage. Some were just wired that way, able to enjoy an unattached sexual relationship with another person. "I can only imagine that it is only made worse by the fact that Naraku claims that he was the one to do the deed, but something in the back of my mind is arguing that point." She blinked, glancing back at him in question. "There is no darkness in her aura that is connected to the parentage of the child."

"But there is a darkness?" she questioned, throwing a worried glance her friend's way. Kagome had been so hurt that day that she had disappeared, but she could never imagine that the pure girl before them held any darkness. Sure, she had a wonderful life with her mother, brother and grandfather, but she had never mentioned a father and that could be considered a darkness if something bad had happened. She didn't know so she couldn't confirm that one, but the only other darkness that might have affected the future born Miko was her pain over Inuyasha's constant return to Kikyo. But that was over, at least she hoped it was.

"Yes, she is inflicted with what is going on and that right there is another reason that I feel Naraku is lying about his being with her as well as the fact that none of us would have missed the spider demon being so close to her, Inuyasha especially." That was the other part of the puzzle, but they were still missing several pieces and until either Kagome remembered or the babies were born they would have no answer to that. "What bothers me is how she got that way," he said, chuckling at the strange look Sango gave him.

"Now, that makes no sense after what you said before about losing your virginity so long ago, monk," she said with a light chuckle. "Do I need to explain the birds and the bees to you?" He was glad that she was smiling, it had been a long time for anyone in their group to even show any joy after all that had happened.

"Ah, my dear Sango, I would love to hear you explain it," he said, wagging his brows at her. "I would be the most adorable thing to hear from a beautiful woman such as yourself," he elaborated and the results he got were what made him feel even more elated as her face changed to a bright red. "And, no, that wasn't what I was talking about. The act itself, I can understand, but the fact that even though this was Naraku's plan, to taint her not by touching her, but allowing her to believe that she wasn't complicate in the act itself and on that same note, the sake." Sesshomaru joined them at this moment, moving up toward them as his own party stayed in the back on Ah-Un.

"I was wondering the same thing, monk," he stated, his golden eyes narrowing at the information he had gleaned from his eavesdropping. "Did she say she had drank a lot and if so, what state of mind she was in at the time of said consumption?" Neither had a real answer for that. They knew, from Sango, that Kagome had stated she hadn't had much to drink, but then again she was new to the drinking scene so that might explain some of it. Not all of it, but some of it. "I, also, did not sense Naraku from her womb, but there is something masking the parentage," he admitted, noting that his brother was listening to them talk, one of his ears swiveling to hear them as the other stayed alert for anything coming their way. "Now, do you know where we are going?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Taking her home," the Hanyou stated. "I cannot be around her with that stink," he elaborated at the shocked looks on Miroku and Sango, not to mention the one that Shippo was giving him. His brother wondered at this. He was new to the group so why would they be so surprised at his confession to take the woman to her home? Did his brother not allow the Miko to return to her family? Strange indeed, but with his own knowledge of their kind he was also not surprised at a failure to release a potential mate out of one's sight. She was marked though and only one who truly was her mate could reverse the marking, though that was a mystery in itself. How had the mark stayed? Was it because of the one that had actually given it to her or because of her intoxication the night it happened? He may be a full demon, but even he didn't understand this situation...because it had never arisen in his time or before him.

"Hmmm," he said, not giving into his urge to ask more questions, which caused him more grief. He had never been one to insert himself in another's business and while it had to do with his brother as well, that made it all the more worse. He had gotten over his initial hatred of the half breed, though because had come to the realization that his brother was not to blame for what their father had done to his own mother nor to him. No, his mother didn't even hold a grudge against the male who had who sired him. She had told him it had not been a love match and they had not even marked each other, no, they had come together to procreate and that was it. He was a product of such an alliance while his brother was one of love, a love that had been marked for all to see and a love that had cost him his life, but Sesshomaru was sure that his father would do it all over again to be with his true mate. True mate? That was so rare, even now, to happen to any demon. Much less to a human and a demon. Humans were so fickle and while they could be like their demon counterparts with their relationships, wars, daily lives and such, the groups never merged a mutual alliance. No, the stayed on their sides unless one or the other felt under attack and that was common since some demons feasted on the flesh of human alone. He wondered then, if in the Miko's world there were demons that walked among their masses...or were they all wiped out. That would be one to see in the future. He wasn't immortal, not by any means, but with as strong as he was he had thousands of years to live his life.

He looked to his brother at that thought. So few Hanyou survived as long as he had since both demons and humans alike abhorred what they considered a vile mixture of blood. Except for the few that he was aware of and while he only knew of his brother's mother, Rin (who was but a child), and the Miko. She was the one that drew his attention. She would make a fine addition to his clan. Her power alone would rise her up in the ranks in even demons' eyes as power was a great motivator in a match, even if she were a human. Too bad she was taken, her scent still coated by the human who had housed her, but he had scented her before and had found that Inuyasha had marked her as his. While he could easily take her from his brother in his current form, his full demon transformation would cause more issues, not that he would admit such a thing. No, his brother was her true mate and while they were still far from that ending in his eyes he would help his brother to see what he himself saw and he was no softy. No, it was a gain that he too could benefit from and that was enough to make him meddle.

It was then that the Hanyou suddenly stopped as the woman on his back began to stir and then she pushed off to run off, everyone staring at her retreating form as she found a spot away from them to heave her stomach contents again, this time Inuyasha rushed to her side, even as she protested, holding her hair back as he soothed her with a soft touch to her back. When she finally stopped, her legs shook so hard that Inuyasha pulled her into his arms bridal style, again despite her complaints. "Inuyasha, put me down," she groaned as her face paled further. Taking the cue from her expression he put her on her feet, but held her steady. He was worried that she was still mad at him, well, at first, but seeing the sweat that was glistening on her forehead he knew that wasn't the case. "Sorry," she murmured as she walk slowly along side him. He shook his head at her, his silver locks brushing against her own raven ones. "I hate this." He couldn't say anything, noting that it was still early in the day, maybe noon at the latest.

"Let's find a good place to camp," he said, but before anyone could make a move the skies above them darkened, Naraku appearing before them in his barrier, a smirk on his face as he noted the weak looking Miko glaring at him. He could feel her hate, her shame, and the guilt that had grown in the last few minutes. Ah, this was such a tasty thing to see, to see her aura darken with all those emotions swirling around in it. "Naraku," Inuyasha hissed, tightening his hold on the woman next to him, the others gearing for attack as Sesshomaru ordered his lackey to remove himself and Rin from the impending confrontation.

"Ah, so you found my little mate, did you?" the horrid male asked, his smirk growing as Inuyasha forced Kagome behind him, eyeing the spider demon and hoping he could see his very intention to make Naraku eat those very words. Kagome held onto Inuyasha for a moment, contemplating how she was to fight with how weak she felt at that moment, her stomach still lurching at the sight of the male before her, but before she could make that choice Inuyasha pushed her into the waiting arms of Sango, the slayer leading her off to wait with Rin as a safety precaution. The Miko felt terrible for the fact that she couldn't help her friends, leaving them when she was needed to complete the purification of the dark demon "Don't you worry, I will take good care of her, you know, like I did before." Sesshomaru growled low, but a chuckle still escaped his lips causing the demon before him to narrow his gaze at him. "Ah, Sesshomaru, a family reunion? Or are you going to be handing your little ward over to my care as well?" The snarl from the demon lord's mouth could be heard all the way back to the two females that Naraku was talking about.

"You won't be getting either, not that you had the Miko to begin with," he spat, smirking at the displeasure on the other male's face. His hair swirled around him, touching the barrier before falling around him as his temper grew.

"And what do you know about that?" Ah, so he was admitting that it was true, no matter because Sesshomaru wasn't fooled by the evil demon's words and he was sure neither were the slayer or the monk. The monk had proven just as much with his own spiritual powers.

"She doesn't smell disgusting like your own repulsive stench and the pups hold no taint to their own auras," he stated, giving away the clues without hesitation, but Inuyasha was shocked at those words. Was it true? Was Kagome untainted by the male before them? He wanted to check on her, to see that she was fine, but he could still smell her scent on the breeze and it was close enough to letting him know she was still standing back there.

"Who says she was going to smell like me?" Naraku asked, cocking a brow at the people before him. "Not that she smells like anyone but her sweet, delicious self." That got his attention and Inuyasha didn't like that description of the Miko anymore than he liked the glint in the other male's eye.

"You hid the smell of the one that marked her!" Inuyasha declared, his brother shooting him a disbelieving look at his statement. No, he wasn't sure if it was Naraku's hand in that one or because of some other variable, but the surprise that lit up in the red eyes of their enemy didn't really answer his own thoughts of who could have done that. That wasn't something that could be possible, could it? Before Naraku could answer all eyes were drawn to the scream coming from behind them as Kagome was yanked away from where she should have been safe, though Jaken and Rin were no match for the raven haired woman who held Kagome prisoner before them. Even Naraku looked displeased with the capture of the one he considered to be his, the brown eyes holding their glares had one of her own.

"Do not move," the woman stated, her eyes narrowing on Inuyasha before throwing his brother the same glare since both were poised to rush to the aid of the weakened Miko. "If you do, I might just have to kill her right before your very eyes!" No one spoke, no one moved, though it didn't mean they weren't assessing the situation from all possible angles. Another fight with Naraku stalled because of someone who had taken another step in a dangerous direction...after she had been warned before.


	15. Chapter 15

Kikyo looked at them all, her anger rising at all the people who were worried about the woman she held close to her, her fingers wrapped around the other Miko's neck as they glowed a pale pink light. She could kill the girl right there, end it all, but she knew that as soon as she completed the act that all of them would jump her and they would probably would kill her...she knew Inuyasha would. He was giving her the look right then, his eyes changing colors before her very eyes. She had never seen that blood red color coating his orbs, but then again she had never made him mad at her, not like this...she had never made him mad in her previous form. No, they had been so close, so ready to grow old together, but as she recalled what he had said to her not too long ago she knew he was right. There had never been real love, just a way of having someone who understood her loneliness with her. Would it have lasted? According to him, no, it would never last between the two of him, especially since she could never be with him as a Hanyou. She had made that clear with her request and yet he had agreed without hesitation. Hadn't he? Had there been hesitation? She couldn't recall at that moment and maybe that was better because she didn't want to think that he had never loved her. Sure, her love hadn't been all that real, but she had loved the thought of what they would be once he made his wish. A wish that would make her normal and him, he would be human and then they could have babies and move on thru life until the day they passed.

But that was no longer viable. Even if he did forgive her or acquisitioned to her request that she wanted from him today, there would be no growing old, no babies and no human by her side, but a Hanyou. Something she was raised to believe was a vile blend of human and demon and demons were instinctively evil. While he had never done anything to be considered like his race, she still was unable to bring herself to love him as he was and the woman in her arms, the one that was so tense, did. She loved him as he was and Kikyo couldn't allow him to realize that so she would do the next best thing. Remove the one that was holding him here, the one that had given him all that she herself had been unable to give him. Friends. Acceptance. Love. No, she had given him what she could and it still hadn't been enough so tightening her hold on the pale neck in her palm she took a step back only to find herself letting out a gasp as blood gurgled in her throat. She still maintained her hand on her prisoner, the very woman who was now using the chance given to her to fight against her captor, her own fingers digging at her throat, but Kikyo refused to relinquish her hold and so it was a standstill, especially when the reason for her sudden pain was smirking from his spot behind the group of heroes.

"Ah, Kikyo, my dear," Naraku crooned from his spot, drawing the attention of the slayer and the monk while both dog demons only gave him a cursory glance before turning their golden orbs back to their own loved ones. Rin was still scared, her eyes so wide that they nearly took up her whole face while Kagome had begun to talk thru the hold on her throat.

"I-It's okay, Rin," she whispered, Sesshomaru watching with surprise that her first concern was his ward when she should have been more concerned with her own pups that were probably not all that happy with the situation concerning the one that was living for them. "M-Move away now." Jaken, who had been so worried about getting caught between the pair of Mikos suddenly seemed to awaken as he did what the living Miko told the girl to do, moving her with a tug on her arm. She seemed to hesitate and while she was clearly afraid it seemed that the fear was now for the woman coaxing her to leave her behind. Kagome was afraid, but not of Kikyo at the moment, whose very hold was starting to go lax, but from the tentacle that was hoovering behind her. She was worried that the girl would become a target for it just to get at the group staring at them. Naraku was one for such tactics and had done it before so she wasn't willing to give him a second chance. "Please," she whispered as a tear escaped. Rin nodded and finally went with Jaken.

"I have always loved how pure you are, Kagome," the evil male stated. "I was planning to take the girl as well, but since it concerns you so much I will leave her be," he said, is face twisting into a more sinister appearance as he pushed his tentacle further into the clay Miko's chest, more blood spilling out and down her arm that was still holding onto Kagome, even if it was more lax now. "For now," he promised, throwing a look toward the now pissed of demon lord. Kagome glared at him as Kikyo's body was pulled back into the forest, the tentacle that was in it pulling back as she gasped again, more blood from her mouth dripping into her wound. Kagome turned to look at the woman who had caused her so much pain before glancing at Inuyasha, sure that he was broken by the loss of his lover, only to find that he was still in attack mode, eyes red and his purple strips darkening on his face. It was clear that he was upset and while she hadn't noticed when his demon had emerged, she could only assume that he was terribly upset at the loss of Kikyo. It broke her heart in more ways than one. She never wanted him to feel such pain, but it also hurt her that he was so torn up about the death of the clay doll that had replaced his once known lover. She still believed they were, after all she had seen them kiss and hug with promises of him loving her and never leaving her side. Hell, he had agreed to join the Miko in Hell once, in the very beginning. Even though he had abandoned her once he had noticed that Kagome was in danger, he still had been so torn when Kikyo had left him.

She couldn't deal with that and be pregnant at the same time. With each emotion that swirled in her, another tally mark appeared for her to go back to her time and stay there when all was done on this side. Once she completed her task, one that she had given herself for the error she had made regarding the Shikon no Tama and its shattering. She couldn't stay here anymore. "Now, my little Miko, dear," Naraku said, his tentacle moving closer to her. "Come and join me." She shook her head, her hair moving with her as she moved over Kikyo's body, the blood that was coating the forest floor making it a harder task and strangely enough the scent of her blood was filling her nose in a way it had never before. It smelled so strong, so much stronger than she had ever known it before. Was it because of her clay body?

"I don't think so," she replied as Inuyasha and Sesshomaru turned to attack the male in the barrier, Inuyasha's blade glowing red as it powered up to destroy the barrier when it suddenly flickered and reversed back to a rusty blade. Sesshomaru was surprised, but wasted no time on that as he pulled his own blade, Bakusaiga, the blade that had appeared when his arm had suddenly regenerated after all the years it had been gone. The blade glowed as he rushed to take down their enemy, though no one knew if it could tear thru his barrier as not even Inuyasha's own attack could do that. When Inuyasha couldn't use his blade he tossed it to the ground and braced to use his own claws. Kagome frowned at his discarding of his father's fang and knew that while in his current form he couldn't use it that he shouldn't discard it either. While they were dealing with him Kagome rushed from the area, grabbed Rin and Jake with Ah-Un in tow to rush away from the battle, her mind feeling off from the blood that she could still smell from the bottom of her shoes

She just needed to get to a spot where she could attack from, though how she would do that was another matter all together since she had no bow or arrows and her other form of attack had to be done up close which was also a no go with Naraku in his barrier. If only she could get it down so the others could get to him. Right now all they were doing was moving him just inches as both the weapon Sesshomaru welded and Inuyasha's claws were making no headway. Miroku could do nothing with all of his friends in the way while Sango was trying to hit Naraku with her boomerang, now fortified with the sake from the old man, managed to do as much damage as the others. Looking around she tried to think when she realized that still next to her friends was her big yellow bag and sticking out from it was her bow while the quiver was laying flat on the ground. Now she just had to get to it without getting caught by Naraku. Fortunately for her with him busy battling his tentacle had not moved from where it was so at least the child with her was safe. "Rin," she said, moving to crouch before her, her voice still husky from Kikyo's powerful fingers grasping her neck just moments before. "You and Jaken must stay here with Ah-Un, okay?" The girl nodded. Using a little power she set up her own barrier around the trio before moving to get to her bag that felt like it was too far at the moment.

Creeping over she found Shippo on the other side of the bag, his body stiff with fear as he watched the battle that he knew he had no role in since all his tactics were toys in disguise. "Shippo," she whispered, again her throat burned from both her vomiting just before Naraku appeared mixed with Kikyo's own attack leaving her voice to hoarse to be loud, but as he was a demon he turned to her, his green eyes wide.

"Kagome!" he cried, throwing himself to her as the battle raged on behind him. She shushed him, looking at the evil demon to make sure that he hadn't heard the kitsune's cry and satisfied that it was all clear she pulled out her bow from the bag while Shippo grabbed the quiver. Moving with Shippo clinging to her suikan was a task in itself since she was still trying to be evasive to the eyes of one very egotistical bastard while ensuring that she didn't drag his attention to the occupants of her barrier. Telling him to join them, she made a move to the other side of the field. When she felt she was a good distance from both she got her arrow ready, the bow taunt as she eyed her target, mindful of her friends that were almost blocking the male. She watched for a good minute, assessing the movements between the two forces before her power drew itself toward the end of her arrow, the head of it glowing pink with very little darkness, but then she noticed with some curiosity the golden, almost red tint of the other energy that blended itself almost seamlessly into her own. Was that her children's' aura? Shaking off the question for another time she released her shot, the arrow whizzing thru the air as the colors arched around it and behind it. Naraku looked up a little too late as the arrow struck his barrier and went thru, piercing his shoulder with a painful looking explosion of light that nearly blinded all that were close to him. Inuyasha fell back, Sesshomaru at his side while Sango threw her boomerang in front of her placing it in the grass as Miroku joined her. All eyes were on what was unfolding before them as Naraku let out a cry at the sudden collision of power.

While it was strong enough to immobilize him for mere seconds, because of her tainted aura it didn't last long, his flesh hanging open as his face followed suit before he shot her a look of distain... a promise of when he got his hands on her, she would pay, before disappearing from sight. All eyes turned to her as her face again paled from the overexertion from the activities in the last few hours, between the demon earlier, the sickness that had followed, the news of her now multi-pregnancy, and Kikyo, but this time she didn't pass out, nor did she get sick she just struggled a little to hold it together as Inuyasha rushed to her side, his demon relaxing once her scent hit his nose, invading his senses. Kagome allowed him to hold her, knowing somehow that only he could calm her and while that was true her guilt and shame always seemed to rear their ugly heads, but Inuyasha didn't care as he put his head on her shoulder, the one that held no mark since he still didn't know what to think about that, but recalling what his brother had said he knew that at least it wasn't Naraku that had impregnated the Miko. "Are you okay?" she asked to his surprise and he pulled back for a moment to look at her, his eyes narrowing on the mark that had been seared into her flesh from Kikyo. His fingers reached out to touch the handprint, forgetting that the others were so close and watched in pure amazement as the mark began to disappear before his very eyes. Seeing the shock in his face she blinked and asked him again, his name spilling from her lips in a worried tone.

"W-What just happened?" Both turned to see Miroku with wide amethyst eyes that mirrored Inuyasha's own golden gaze at that moment as the others came closer, each of them looking at her neck to the point that she turned red as she pushed Inuyasha back a little.

"What are you all looking at me like that for?" Before anyone could answer that question another one popped out of Sango's mouth.

"Um...Kagome?" she asked, her name becoming a question as she reached out to push Kagome's raven hair back behind her ear.

"What?" she said as all the eyes before her widened, even Sesshomaru's were gazing rather pointily at the now exposed ear. Reaching up she touched her ear, outlining the outer shell until she moved up, her own chocolaty orbs growing round like saucers. It didn't curve like it had before, no, it went further, pointing at an angle before reaching a point. "What the fuck?" she cried out, surprise the only thing tinting her scent, all other emotions dissipating. "What happened to my ears?!" she asked, her voice coming out rough as she reached up to touch her other ear.

"Interesting," was all the elder demon dog could say. All eyes turned to him, all with questions except for one. Kagome was still trying to figure out why her ears were different and when she thought of that she recalled that her sense of smell had also changed. What was happening to her? Was it because of her pregnancy or was something else playing a trick on her? Was it permeant or was it temporary? She couldn't go home like this! What would her mother say? That brought a chuckle to her lips as she knew her mother would say that they were cute. The others now glanced at her. "I think that a trip to my mother would probably answer some of these questions and maybe your little flea steward." Inuyasha could only nod at that statement, though he had never met the woman she should know something about this, after all she may not be as old as his father, but she had seen so much more than either of them.

"Guess that's where we're going then," Inuyasha stated as he tugged Kagome back to him, and onto his back even as she began to say that the rocking made her nauseated, but decided against it since she was still feeling sluggish and in no way able to stay upright on Kirara and besides that would put someone out and she just couldn't do it...unless she was angry and even then she felt bad after.


	16. Chapter 16

Kagome really tried for Inuyasha to hold down her stomach, urging it to calm itself so she could ride on the Hanyou's back and not for the reason of wanting to inconvenience her friends, but she truly missed riding on his back, his scent filling her nose and while that was in part why she wasn't having too hard of an issue she was also still smelling all the scents that were much more vibrant than they had been before. It was awesome, as she had always wanted to be able to scent things as he had for such a long time, but with her stomach rebelling against her some of those smells were having an opposite reaction. "Inu-yasha," she groaned out and while he was taking her breaks rather well, she felt bad so her scent was become more guilty with each stop. He wanted to tell her it was okay and that he didn't mind, but it was killing him that she couldn't ride on his back with the way she was feeling. He enjoyed those moments, even if he never told anyone, least of all her. Instead he held her hair back and rubbed her back in gentle circles which the others watched in fascination. None of them had ever seen him this nice before and it was weirding them out while at the same time it brought them silent joy because he was being so understanding when they all knew his conflicted feelings. Miroku didn't understand fully since he had very little knowledge on the subject and was only learning more because of Sango and Shippo. Sesshomaru didn't look pleased, but then again he always looked mad or at the least very detached from the outside.

In his head though, he was still taking in the new features of the Miko and the new things she could do. Her nose was wrinkling even now as she straightened back up and he wanted to know why. Was her nose more sensitive to the point that all the smells were bothering him as it often did for most dog demons? That was the thing though... who was the father? Was he of a canine origin because to his understanding only his kind of demon breed were that sensitive to all the smells, while other ones, snakes and the like had very little issue with such things. He guessed he would have to watch and see if anything else changed. "We still have a long ways to go, brother," he stated. They had been on the road for almost a week now and his mother's castle was to the very far west, another week at least...if Kagome could hold down her food or the lack there of since the small woman hadn't really eaten much, even as his brother and her friends tried to prompt her to eat something. Food had become a problem for the small woman, nothing seemed to stay and he could only think that his mother might be of use in that department as well since she had been in the same situation.

"I wish I could get information about this," Kagome grumbled as she rinsed her mouth out with some of their bottled water before taking a healthy guzzle from the small mouth on the container. "Then again, I doubt any human pregnancy books will do any good with this case." Inuyasha allowed her to crawl back up on him, her eyes closing just moments before they took off as exhaustion overtook her small form. Her pregnancy was becoming a draining process and while Inuyasha could think of nothing to settle her stomach or a way to get food to stay in that same organ he was sure his mother would have had answers since she had given birth to him. But, she was dead and so he had no one to ask about that save for Myoga and that little bugger was scarce to say the least. Just as he thought that a prick on his neck announced the very creature they were looking for so he stopped, making sure that Kagome was still asleep the group greeted the flea demon who suddenly seemed to perk up at a new scent that assaulted his sensitive nose.

"What is that smell?" he inquired as he turned to see where it was coming from only to notice that it was coming from the woman dozing peacefully on Inuyasha's back. "Is Lady Kagome a demon or is she pregnant with a demon's child?" They all nodded, Inuyasha being the one to confirm that she was not only pregnant, but seemed to be inheriting whatever traits from the demon who impregnated her, as far as they all could guess. "I have not heard of such a case in so long," the flea stated, scratching his head in concentration, everyone waiting with baited breath to hear what he had to say on the matter. "I shall have to see if I can find the person who I last knew to inherit such features that way."

"You mean that they are still alive?" Sango asked, curious as to what that could mean for Kagome. If Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were stumped about it, then it was before their time, she had to assume.

"Hmmm, no," Myoga stated with a shake of his head. "They died a long while ago, long before you were even a twinkle in your old man's eye," he said with a look to the elder demon dog. "Though the only one I can think of is from that same family and as a member of the canine family would be apart of one of our many clans." This was news to the two males as they had never heard such a tale in their own clan so it must be another clan that held such a fascinating tale. The information made Inuyasha feel a little better about the pregnancy and at the same time it made him wonder as to who he would know that could fall into that category. The only other canine demons he knew were his brother and... Koga!

"That mother fucker!" he hissed. Then again the male had seemed rather worried for the sake of the small woman, as if he himself had not felt her disappear and a mate knew when their mate went missing...unless he was drunk that night or in heat like most of them did during the spring. But that also made no sense because how could the mate not feel it even if they didn't remember the night it happened. It was in the blood and it drove them crazy when something was wrong with the other half of them. It wasn't making sense and with all that swirling in his head he found his stomach groaning at him, the tumble of his organ making him feel sick to his stomach in time to the woman who was currently groaning as she shifted on his back. "Let's just get to your fucking mother's place. The sooner we know what is going on the sooner we can find out who the father of her pups is!" He wanted to know so he could see if it was just a random demon whom he could kill and take Kagome without the worry of the male coming back to claim her. It would be painful to begin with, the over-ride of the original claim, while the other part of it could be pleasurable if the recipient wanted it and depending on if they did the way most mates had been doing it for years.

Everyone took after the Hanyou as he rushed to find Sesshoumaru's mother, while said male wondered with the rest of the group what had gotten into his brother. As the trip was still going to be a long one since his mother kept a home near his western castle he knew where to find her, but this new information about another canine family that had their traits passed down thru a less than known path made his mind whirl with all sorts of questions he could ask his mother and while he hardly ever went to see her, save for when he needed to get the new technique that had then been given to Inuyasha, he had little to do with her.  
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A few days later found the group learning something new about Kagome, her eyes changed to a more honey brown appearance, even had a slight glow to them and while that was one thing that was new so was the little bump she was sporting now. Sango had been excited, finding it hard not to when her sister was starting to show and while Kagome appeared to be surprised and happy with the little bump she also seemed apprehensive. If she counted back far enough she was only a month and maybe a week into this pregnancy, but she found that she couldn't form the words needed to ask the two males about how long a pregnancy should last. Well, a demon's pregnancy since with all the new changes she seemed to be inheriting she would soon look like one.

"Can I feel it?" the brunette inquired, looking at the baby bump with such excitement and veiled jealousy. Kagome nodded, allowing the other woman to touch the firm bump. "Oh," she gasped as she laid her warm hand on Kagome's distended stomach. It wasn't just the feel of her belly that had her gasping, but how warm Kagome felt to her. Her skin wasn't as warm as a fire, but it was damn near close. Was it the aura from the babies or was there more to this? With every day more came out about Kagome's mystery mate and the others were intrigued while the two demon males, not counting Shippo or Jaken, were a little of that and worried. Sesshomaru was worried because being pregnant with a pup was one thing for a human to endure since the pup's aura could be too powerful, not a worry for Kagome as a Miko, but a worry for her having more than one at a time. She was a small woman, and while she had the powers to keep her pups safe she would soon be too big to travel. Did she know that? For Inuyasha his concerns lay on the same road, but more along the lines of worry for her being in his time to have those same pups, though in her time, as she always fretted for him, they would be much worse off even if the medical side of things was better. He was torn. She needed to go home, but that wasn't the best bet either. When she gave birth it would cause such an uproar if those children looked more like the father, but then again Kagome herself was looking more and more beastie in that sense too.

"Miko, we may have a problem," Sesshomaru stated, causing all to look up. She waited, submitting to him learn from him and he liked that. Again, he cursed his brother for allowing another to have her, though he felt that his brother had made a choice to remedy that and that made him proud. This would make their bloodline all the more powerful. "I am sure that you are unaware of how long a pregnancy is for demons." It was a statement, because they all knew nothing about such a thing, not even Sango. "I shouldn't have tell anyone here, humans, that this information does not leave here." Again, another statement, all nodding at the confidential information. Kagome held up a hand, forming a small barrier to cover the group. He nodded at her genius before once again talking. "For most it is two months shy of how long human's pregnancy is." That meant seven months, so why was she showing so early. "I do not know for a human carrying a child would calculate out to be, sadly, but for your own predicament it seems that even that time changes." She knew he was referring not only to her being human, but having taken on changes that only a demon or even a Hanyou would have. This was as new to this as any of them and the only hope was that either his mother knew or Myoga found that clan that held that same trait.

"So less time?" Inuyasha asked, worry creeping into his tone. This gave them little time to get their battle out of the way with Naraku, if he even played fair and didn't try to do it when Kagome was too big to fight, hence her putting up the barrier. Though when looking at it, he noted that it wasn't her normal pink color, no, it was like her arrow earlier, darkened with a black tint and golden with red tinting it in such a way that it was quite pretty. Sesshomaru nodded, Kagome wondering the same thing as Inuyasha. This meant that she could be very bulky and with that cumbersome stage that it would be hard for her to fight and after the babies were born...

"Fuck!" she said, her face turning red as everyone looked at her in pure shock, though Inuyasha and Sesshomaru smirked slightly. She had been around Inuyasha too much if she was talking like him now. Was that a side effect of her pregnancy... moods were known to fluctuate during this time too. "Sorry, um... what about the fact that I am having more than one? Will that effect it as well?" The older male nodded. He felt that would definitely effect it. In fact he wondered how much time they truly had to get to his mother and fight Naraku. They would have to destroy the spider demon sooner so there was no crimp in the plans, after all Kagome was needed for the barrier issue among other things, but in that lay another issue.

"Miko, there is one other issue," he said, narrowing his eyes at her to let her know just how serious he was. She gulped at his tone, his expression becoming so stern as if he were talking to a child. "I have no idea how many pups you are having and with the power they are already showing, mixing with your own powers this pregnancy could not only get harder, but you may pop earlier than six months, depending on how many you are having it might be sooner. Pups tend to form faster the more powerful the parentage and since we only have your own to go by, that might be powerful enough to increase their maturity. Then, going by the fact that you are becoming more demonic yourself it might make you more powerful. You can not and I mean, can not go back to wherever you come from which to my understanding is so far in the future that you have not seen any demons, correct?" She nodded.

"I understand, Lord Sesshomaru," she said pointily, Inuyasha trying to hold back the growl. He didn't mind the submissive stance, but he didn't like what his brother was saying. Kagome was in real danger and while he agreed that it was best for her not to go to her time to have the pups, but never go back. He couldn't ask her to do that, no matter what those pups looked like. Kagome loved her family. He was asking her to give up a lot.

So are you. You're asking her to do that by wanting her to stay, his mind reminded him, his demon scoffing at his human side. Mate belongs with us. We would cease to exist without her. Could he ask her to do that too? Yes, he could, but it would be her choice, not him making her stay. Hell, she hadn't seen her mother in almost a month if not longer and it wasn't fair to her. Her mother should know her grandchildren. He held back his growl, wanting to tell his brother where to shove it, but he knew that Kagome wouldn't listen. She would see the logic of it, give up her mother, her brother, her grandfather to protect their kind, to protect her pups. That was who she was and she wouldn't change it for anyone. He didn't want to do that to her, to be hated by her later for his selfish thoughts, his wants when he still was unsure of her yearnings.

"Let's get on the road, we still have another few days before we get there and the sooner the better," the dog lord stated, turning back to head on the road, the others following behind closely as they kept vigil for any demons or Naraku to appear. They knew he had to be mad that they had thwarted him before and his track record had always been to strike back rather quickly, though now, with how he had been keeping a low profile made them wonder with how long they would have to wait for this next battle and would it be the final one? They could only hope.  
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The darkness of the castle made the man sneer. All his help, all his slaves were gone. Each one a disappointment, having died too soon or having little use to him as he sent them like a kamikaze to their deaths. None of them had beaten the group, not a single one had managed even in their final minutes to do as he had demanded them. Each one had gone against him, become traitors to his orders with little regret, even their deaths had been a strike at him since he could no longer have them at his bidding. He would need someone to heed his calls, to do his bidding with no traitorous thoughts, but with each one he had grown cold to the idea of creating another since a worry of the loyalty would be stuck in his mind and still, he was afraid to try again, to attack on his own. Kagome was a problem and he might have had her had Kikyo not interfered. He had thought of bringing her back, but at the fleeting thought he had known it would not work to his advantage. She would betray him too, wanting the death of the one he longed for.

"What to do?" he asked the darkness and in the silence he received no answer. If only he had someone to trust and then he realized, there was another way to get to her. After all, she may not believe his tale of being her mate, but she was still tainted. Yes, he had seen the darkness in her aura, after all she was human and susceptible to emotions. His own human heart was back in his chest, but his demonic side still reigned over him as he had not felt any remorse for killing the Miko for she was already dead and held no part of his heart. She wasn't the Miko from all those years ago and for his human heart that had not felt the same. Onigumo was nearly no more since he had no one to live for, to die for. He wouldn't even have to do anything stupid, like putting himself out there for the woman, no, he would have another demon do it for the sheer want of the jewel. It was a promise that he would not keep in the end, as he had to have it for himself, for the power...the wish he wanted. Onigumo pulsed within him, his own wish slipping into Naraku's mind. His wish to have the dead Miko. "No," he spat at his other half. Sometimes it grew tiresome to deal with the other half, his human half that was purely separate and still part of him for without it he was invincible, but at the same time it was a weakness that he could not let out of his sight for then he would be gone...death was not appealing for him and he refused to allow it to happen, but if he didn't destroy the woman's faith and purity then he would be as good as dead. Destroyed by that purity.

Smirking he headed off from his room, moving to a darker part of his castle, a place where once a month he was force to hide. Hiding? He hated it, but knew that he had to do it at some point in the 30 days or he would fall apart, be so easy to kill as his body weakened from the weaker demons he had taken in to form his body. Their souls were released upon his consumption, but that was for his own sanity. He didn't need another voice in his head. The human voice was bad enough. Yes, his human half was more than enough of a burden. Opening a door to a mostly empty room he entered, the light from the sun outside gone as he opened a trap door. He locked the door to the room, though there was no one to interrupt him at the moment he still felt that it was more secure from anyone who might come across his castle while he was gone. Tomorrow, he promised the stale air around him as he climbed in, his body immediately falling apart. Tomorrow will be the final battle as they all fall, one by one to the wayside as she gives in. He could wait until she was farther along, but even he knew that could be more months than he was willing to wait. If he had her here when she gave birth, he could control the pups and he knew that even with their status of Hanyou that they would be far more powerful than he himself was. After all, I know who the father is. Smirking he closed his eyes as he thought of the perfect demon for this task. He would use Chimei-tekina suimin no mochinushi. After all, his title bespoke of his alliances, his own yearning. His life was filled by the death of his targets. And he could do it oh so easily too. Yes, this will be the best way, the slowest way, but oh so easy.


	17. Chapter 17

The liquor had given her such a pleasant feeling, so warm and fuzzy and while she knew she should go and find her bed, she didn't want to. Instead she stepped outside, the night air cool and yet so nice against her warmed skin. She took a step off the veranda, noted the beautiful garden to one side of the backyard as well as a pond that took up a small corner of the other half of the yard. Smiling she sat down on the edge of the veranda, watching the stars twinkling above her she failed to notice that another had joined her, staying off in the shadows as his half lidded eyes watched her with such desire. The person said nothing for her to note his presence and with the sake flowing thru her bloodstream she was more occupied with the night skies.

"Hmmm... you know what sounds good?" she asked to no one in particular, still under the assumption that she was alone outside. The person waited, wondering if she knew they were there, but when she continued he knew that he was safe. "Those hot springs." Giggling at her own conversation, she hopped up and headed for the door that led to an indoor/outdoor spring. Before entering she tugged at her socks first, leaving them on the ground outside the door before entering, the person watching her waiting until the door shut to sigh. The sound carried on the winds, loud enough for the girl to hear him, but she failed to do so as she pulled on the hem of her shirt...

Kagome struggled against her clothing, feeling like it was suffocating her as her flesh seemed to burn, the feelings of pleasure searing her body as she wriggled against Inuyasha's back. The Hanyou who had been holding her legs could feel the heat of her body and a brow rose at her movement, his own body responding to her scent that wafted to his nose. A growl escaped his lips as he slowed, the others stopping to see what the issue was while one person knew exactly what was going on. "Brother," Sesshomaru said, his tone one of warning and question all in one. What was wrong with the Miko now? They were mere hours from where they needed to be and with another stop they would be behind again. He was not happy about this constant stopping, but he also knew that she was in need of such things...bodily needs were fine while this one in particular could not be helped unless her mate were close enough. It was then that all eyes turned to see a whirlwind approaching them, the one in it all too familiar as Kagome struggled to wake from her sleep when the scent hit her nose.

"K-Koga?" she asked, her brown eyes still hazy from her nap. Inuyasha growled as the other male approached them, but when he stopped before them his blue eyes took in the form laying across the Hanyou's back. She didn't move, nor did she greet him as she too became rather wary about his presence. It was unlike her normal cheerful self, but it didn't deter him as he smiled upon seeing her.

"Kagome! I was so worried about you!" he cried as he moved to get a better look at her, noting that not only was she wearing clothing that covered her from the neck down, but that her eyes were different as well. He scented the air and raised a brow before shrugging as he tried to grasp her. When Inuyasha moved her from his grasp he growled a warning at the other male.

"We do not have time for this," the elder dog demon spat, getting more ticked off at the interruption. Kagome nodded, turning to let the wolf demon know that she was fine and that they were going to find out more information on her condition. He raised a brow, his mouth opening to ask another question when Inuyasha cut him off.

"Fucking shit, flea infested wolf shit," he cursed before tightening his old on Kagome and taking off. At first all of them were surprised, Sesshomaru nodding as he took off with his companions, the others following behind as Koga stood there in surprise at first before anger took over. That was his woman after all, even if she smelled off at the moment. He needed to take her back to his hut since it seemed that the mutt could not take care of her, so off he went to grab her when another person appeared before them, a female that appeared to share its looks with the demon lord. No one paid her any mind, only heading past her to the castle that was but a dot in the distance, but she didn't seem too upset as she watched them go before turning her attention to the wolf demon who was stopping, the dirt flying up around him.

"You have no permission to enter my lands, wolf," she stated her voice soft and yet so cold that a shiver passed over his body. "Until I have issued such permission you will leave my land." He let out a bark of laughter. While she might be intimidating to him she was just another dog, another mutt in his path to his future mate. When she noted that he wasn't taking her seriously she allowed her body to contort, her form changing before his eyes to a rather large dog, her eyes narrowing in warning at him and he almost ignored her warning when he knew that if he did that this woman, she would kill him. Resigning to his forced decision he sat down, narrowing his blue eyes at her to say 'sure, I won't go any farther, but I am NOT going to leave this spot'. She could push it, but she was curious about the woman on Toga's son's back so she turned and left, rushing to meet the small human who didn't smell like a human should. She knew humans all too well, after all she did eat them on occasion. They tasted better than demons or even the animals that still lived on her lands, but this girl, she had a demon aura that seemed to be filtering into her blood and that was a curious thing.  
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Several miles away from where the group was another person stood waiting, well, two people as a woman stood behind him in the shadows. She was the other half of him, making him all the more powerful when she provided her help. Chuckling he turned his dark eyes toward her, the black tone of them like ink that had been spilled, while her own eyes were white like snow in the winter. They were like a yen and yang if you were to look at them and at the same time they held such mixed coloring that you would expect there to be grey area between them. Shi to hakai no koe was her name, though she just called herself Koe while her brother was Chimei-teki and they together were a powerful team that each aided in the task to feed or mercenary work. The one that had come to them had not revealed his true form. They knew that he wasn't a baboon, nor was he the real deal. After all, if they couldn't tell what they were dealing with (whether their task or task master) than they were not powerful enough to live and that would never be the case. They had survived for over five hundred years perfecting their ability as their own parents had taught them before they had eaten them too.

No, they had no remorse for those that shared their blood anymore than those whom they hunted for their blood. It was all to feed them, to give them power to continue to thrive before they found a body to house their seed or to fertilize their egg, depending on which of them you were talking about. Koe was dressed in black while her skin matched her eyes, white as snow, her hair an inky black while her brother's hair was blinding in how white it really was, especially against his black flesh that nearly blended in with his eyes. The only thing about them was their connection, their long hair intertwined behind them on the soft grass. Other than the fact that they were one in that way in others they were different. Koe enjoyed playing with her victims, toying with their emotions before killing them whereas her brother, Chimei-teki, got rather attached to certain prey, debating on whether to use a female for his incubator depending on their power and this girl they were to hunt seemed like she would be the perfect host. Unfortunately for him, this woman was already pregnant and off limits. That was not something he usually agreed to, but for what they were getting in return, a trio of demons, two humans, and a fire cat. It would be more than enough payment and the Shikon no Tama, the piece that the raven haired one held...that would also be theirs.

"I do not trust that he will allow us to keep that jewel piece," Koe stated, finding her brother nodding even without looking at her. He agreed and while he wanted the jewel for himself, he would share the other half with her. She was the only one that he would never kill, no matter what, but that Naraku... They might have to extend him a dinner invitation. Smirking at that thought the pair turned to a village that lay a few hours away from them, their forms glowing as they became humanoid in appearance, save for their eyes that glowed before becoming dull. After all, to get to a prey one had to be able to trick that prey into a sense of being non-threatening.  
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The older woman, her golden eyes taking in the group before her, her own son standing so close to them that she almost laughed. Yes, she didn't like humans, but both of Toga's sons seemed to find themselves in the company of such beings that she scoffed in disbelief. Her son had always been cold, colder than either of his parents, but at the same time he had learned what it was to have someone to protect as her former mate had asked him all those years ago. Now her golden eyes turned to take in the young woman with them, the same one she had only heard rumors about... a human that did not fear demons, nor did she treat them any different than she would another human being. She treated them in the way they acted toward her, even her son had been brow beaten by her when they had first come into contact.

"So, this girl is a human?" she inquired as she looked to her son again. He nodded and then explained in a few words as he could the situation around the Miko turned half demon...well, at the moment anyway. She listened, taking in all the facts before sitting there quietly to think. Myoga, the small flea that had been with her former mate, had come and asked the same thing of her and she had known of only one person that had dealt with such a rarity. Only one person in her history had ever fallen upon this same issue. "Oni no Miko," she stated simply, recalling that the one that Myoga had been looking for had long since expired, leaving only a handful of pups. Hanyou and yet much more as they had been strong, lived so long that it was just fifty years or so that the last one had died. Their own brood had been Hanyou, purely Hanyou with just enough of their grandmother's power to survive and those were not in this area of the world any longer. No, they had left and so there was only answers left. No proof, save for the story. Stories were not proof unless you had been there and she, lucky for them, had been there when the pup's mother had just died. "She was one of a kind, at least until now." Her son raised a brow at her. " Her name was Hoshizora and she was a Miko that fell in love with a demon, a dog demon that lived over 3000 years ago, still a young adult at the time that your own father was brought into this world. He was a daiyōkai like your father, and he hated humans for most of his life until he came upon her. She had nothing like Midoriko or Kikyo, to guard except for her village and he had come to partake of the human meat that inhabited in it."

"So, this dog demon was a lord that fell in love with a Miko," Sango stated, looking over at the pair that practically matched that story, though Inuyasha had never hated humans, not in a way that he would eat them, but enough that he avoided them. "Why did he stop, assuming he did if he felt the same way?" The beautiful demon before them chuckled softly as she continued.

"He did fall in love with her, but was too stubborn in the beginning and she was too. She was a Miko after all and they are not supposed to care for a demon and the same goes for him. He was a powerful demon, one of noble birth and raised to hate the weaklings that took up a good part of the land. He didn't share his feelings until the day that she almost was killed..." she faded off as she recalled the stories that she had heard and the documents that even backed it up, but those were long gone. Had been missing for nearly a thousand years. "He found her fighting an evil demon, one that feared her powers as she too was powerful, though she had no family to speak of as they had long been dead or maybe not dead, but gone. That is still up for debate to this day since no one ever heard anything about them from her or him." It was such a strange story to be told, and while they were all taking it in with such serious faces she could tell they were all confused, or even in denial that such a thing had transpired at all. "She was tainted, her powers sealed when the evil poisoned her with liquids that swam in her veins. He, Tsukiakari, took her as his mate, marking her in an effort to save her and take the poison from her body."

"He was successful," Sesshomaru stated, knowing that a mark could save another, if they were true mates. Even though it seemed neither had told the other, it seemed that their souls had long since connected to allow that bodily claim. She nodded at him. "So, if that is all there is to the story than why did you imply that this Miko is also one, a Oni no Miko?"

"Patience my son, as I am almost done," she said as she sat down on her throne now, laying her hands on the arm rests of that throne. "The darkness was the only thing that held back her power and even after he had drained what he could from her body with that bond, she still had to believe that she wasn't what she believed she was." This time she looked at Kagome, a look that said it all. She could smell the scents on her, see the aura that was throbbing with the darkness that it was trying to fight. She could even see the pups' auras that blended with the pink hue, but what she could not see was the aura that should be there, the one that showed the claim of the male partner. "What I am truly curious about," she said with a pause, "Is who the father of your pups is." Kagome answered, hesitating in telling of her moment that night and the fact that she had little memory to go on to answer that in its entirety. "As for the Oni no Miko. She became a Miko to those she had once hated because she began to see that she was born to love one. Without her and him becoming one, many of our kind would fail to live."

"So, I'm here to repeat that?" Kagome inquired, looking worried. How would she do that if she didn't know what demon had claimed her? She regretted it, but thinking about her pups, she didn't know what to think. They weren't a product of love and even with that thought she knew that she would love them. Sesshomaru's mother nodded, reiterating that whatever negative feelings she was feeling would need to go for her to be able to become a true Oni no Miko. "Their names though," Kagome pointed out. "Both have to do with something that completes the other. Starlit and Moonlit." That was just a coincidence, the older woman was sure and said as much.

"But why is she becoming a demon or a half demon?" Miroku inquired while looking at the Miko in question. This seemed to amuse the demon before him, her smirk one of amusement.

"Why do you think, monk? Could a powerful Miko of demons be only of purity as humans look at it or should she be one that can handle both sides of the same coin?" Miroku looked at her thoughtfully, pondering her meaning as it was always taught that demons were evil while humans were good. He had never believed that all humans were good, but then again until he had met Shippo and Inuyasha he had never thought a demon to be good either. Was it true that as a powerful Miko, more so than any he had come across in his lifetime or read about in any scroll, should also inherent the powers of said demon to become one? Then he recalled that Kagome wasn't a whole person in herself. Her soul had been too big all that time ago for Kanna to take and while Kikyo had held some of her soul it had not returned to Kagome at the time of her demise. There were so many thoughts, but Inuyasha was the first to get it, Sesshomaru nodding as he too understood.

"It's because she was like Kagome," the Hanyou stated. "She wasn't just one soul and even then she was missing a portion of that soul." It wasn't lost on him that Kikyo hadn't released the soul upon her death and that could only mean that it had gone on its way, Kagome hadn't needed it with her soul patched up by her mate...her other half and now that was his answer to if he could take that mark and make his own...


	18. Chapter 18

After the talk with Sesshomaru's mother, a nice woman and quite beautiful in a cold kind of way, Kagome and Sango were led to a large hot springs that the older female kept in the large compound. She claimed that they could use it without any interruption from the outside world while on her lands and Kagome knew what she was hinting at...Kagome needed to clear her head, her heart and her soul of all the darkness and it seemed that the older woman knew that Sango was the one to clear that with. It was strange that the cold demon could sense their sisterly connection, but it made sense as the demon was a female, abet a cold one who seemed to have very little to do with any other person, human or demon. Even to her son she seems withdrawn and yet... And yet there was a maternal love there, her words and actions bespoke of it and while the older male wasn't all that charming, even to his own mother, he was respectful. There seemed to be more to her, more to who she was in the grand scheme of things. Kagome wasn't aware of how right she was because without the older woman his Meidō Zangetsuha would not have ever become a part of his sword before being given to Inuyasha's Tessaiga. She had not only helped her own son, but also the child that had been from his human mate as well. It was all so confusing, but what was more confusing were the words that had not been said to her, but she had heard them nonetheless and here she was, Sango by her side as they walked the halls behind the very woman who knew more than she had told them.

"Here it is," the silver haired demon stated, turning toward a large door, almost ten feet tall if not taller, but it was the designs on the door. They were the markers that were like the moons that graced both Sesshomaru and his mother's forehead, a beautiful purple moon. Without a word she left them, heading further down the hall, Sango turning toward her with a look that bespoke of the nervousness she was feeling being in the large estate, with a demon whom they had learned had eaten humans at one point...they had no idea if she still ate them, but basically they were putting themselves in a hot pot of water, not unlike cooking a meal on the fire as they did every day.

"She doesn't mean us any harm," Kagome stated, sure that even if the woman wanted human flesh she would not touch them, no there was respect for them in her eyes and while it wasn't something they had expected upon coming to her lands, it was there. Reaching out, Kagome pushed one of the large doors open to find that it wasn't as heavy as it had looked, no, it was as light as a feather and so soft to the touch, like silk. Once the door opened, Sango standing close to her as if guarding her and she sighed. Did they all see her as weak now? She didn't feel weak, her eyes narrowing at the thought that even as a half demon they saw her as weak because of her condition, she felt the strength from her unborn babies. What greeted them was beautiful, so surreal as the enclosed room felt more like a greenhouse from her time, the walls weren't glass like one, but they were almost hidden by the trees that loomed overhead. Flowers scented the room to the point that Kagome felt a wave of dizziness, her sense of smell so strong that what would have just made her smile in awe at their beauty was causing her issues with their extra vibrant smell. She almost backed out of the room, but Sango pushed her forward, her eyes taking it all in as she too smelled the flowery scents that hung in the air.

"Come on, Kagome, I have a feeling that we were meant to use this time not to relax, but talk," the slayer stated, sounding a little sad that they couldn't enjoy the wonderful room. When they walked past trees they came to the large spring, its clear waters smoking slightly from its heated contents. Smiling at the beautiful sight of the almost lake sized structure she walked closer, noting that there were vials of unknown substances near one side of the large spring. Kagome looked around and found that the closer they got to the water, the more muted the smells of the flowers were, as if the water's smoky atmosphere drew them in and cleared them out at the same time. It was so strange to learn what did and didn't irritate her new senses, like the sounds that were filling her new ears while at the same time overwhelming with how loud they sounded. She had always envied Inuyasha with his enhanced hearing, but this was ridiculous. How did one handle this all the time? At least he could put his ears down to protect them, but she could not. They were like Sesshomaru's own pointed ones, but she had never seen him react to the sounds that almost overwhelmed her.

Getting undressed behind a divider that was made of the trees that grew together and vines that hung all over them, still climbing to the top. Getting into the hot springs she found there was even a scent to the water of the spring, almost a slight smell of perfume and Kagome wondered at that. Was it because of the vitals that were just mere feet from where she sat or was it natural? Sighing she leaned back, grabbing one of the ones closest to her, a pink container of glass that glistened in the light that was coming from the small openings above us in the rock ceiling. Opening it, she smelled the delightful smell that came from the bottle, all the while refusing to meet the gaze of Sango. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell her friend of her own worries, but that it was against everything that she was to share her inner most fears, her failings that she perceived. She didn't want to admit that she was afraid of losing them all, because even though they could assure her otherwise she didn't want to hear their answer because she couldn't believe it. Sure, her mother had been okay with the sex part, but now she had yet to go home and tell her mother that she was going to be a mother before her 18th birthday. Not that that was a fear here, no, it was normal to be a mother here and again that wasn't the issue. Becoming a mother was one thing, but being pregnant and trying to help her friends was a whole other thing. She couldn't help them if she was still fighting at the advanced stage that would soon be happening. She was two months along at least and was already showing! Would they ask her to leave, ask her to stay back at her time or at Kaede's until the birth?

"Kagome, you know that I'm not one to force you to do anything, right?" Sango said, looking out at the indoor forest. Kagome nodded, still messing with the container even though she really wasn't seeing it. She waited, knowing there was more to come. "But, we've all noticed that since that night you have been acting weird and while we now know more than even you did since that time...and not in a pleasant way either." Sango was sure it was Kikyo who had started all the shit that had gone down that day nearly a month ago, but she said nothing about that since said woman was now no longer walking the earth. "But how are you feeling?"

"Um, okay for the most part," the Miko stated, finally putting the container to the side, but still not looking at her friend. She was still telling half lies and while Sango was not like Inuyasha and could scent out her lies, she still knew that her friend wasn't being completely honest either.

"You know that it's okay to admit when you aren't okay, right Kagome?" When Kagome didn't answer her she tried again, this time bringing up the one that had more knowledge on how the Miko was feeling than the others. "Inuyasha knows that you've been feeling down, more around him than anyone else and it shows. He has become more moody than I have ever seen him, flashing between anger, sadness, and depression to name a few." Kagome shook her head softly as she hadn't noticed any of it, too afraid to really want to see his anger since she knew she had betrayed him. "You need to admit it, Kagome, even if not to me or anyone else, but you need to admit it if not just to yourself that there is nothing to be ashamed about. Yes, it wasn't something you intended to happen, but you didn't will it to happen either."

"But I didn't do anything to st-"

"Kagome," Sango snapped, feeling a little upset at her friend's inability to get past something that she would never let her friends even hurt over. She would give them the best advice, pushing without raising her voice unless you exasperated her with your own feelings of despair. Kagome had even brightened her own feelings about her brother. She had promised that he would never blame her for his mistake, for killing their father and trying to kill her. He would need her help to get past his own misgivings about something that had happened against his own will, that he had not been himself and therefor could not blame himself and yet, Kagome was here doing it to herself and the only one that could truly help her...besides herself was the man she was in love with, the one that held her heart. "Women who aren't even drunk still find that they can't stop what happened and even then without knowing what really happened that night you don't know if you didn't fight back. Hell, we don't even know who the male is. For all we know he's not someone that you don't love in some way, you know?"

"Sango, you know who I love," Kagome stated, looking at her friend for only a moment, after all she had only looked up because of her friend's tone. "There is no one I love more than him and while I know that he doesn't have such feelings I don't think my feelings will change." Sango knew what she was saying because she felt the same way about a certain monk, and those would never change even if he pissed her off to no end.

"Kagome, I think you..." she faded off for a moment, thinking about the fact that both she and Miroku had promised not to interfere with the troubled relationship, but there was no time and it would have to happen. These feelings that Kagome was afraid to express were because of her feelings for their friend and he, being a half demon, was unlikely to know how to express himself unless Kagome took the initiative. Kagome might be mad at her for this, but she would be better off for it. Inuyasha was afraid and that talk with the older woman hadn't helped matters with that. She was afraid herself, afraid that Inuyasha had given up on the Miko or would let her leave knowing it would kill him in the end. She was afraid that it would kill the Miko as well, but at least Kagome had someone who would love her no matter what, more than one in fact that were just waiting to be born. "I think you're blind to his feelings because you're afraid that he doesn't feel like you do about him."

Kagome looked at her in shock, her words coming out more harsh with how fast the slayer had said them. It seemed as if she had been holding them in for a while and that she was afraid to even say them. The Miko knew why she was afraid to say them as well and anger boiled for a moment. "Y-You don't think I know that?" she inquired, moving away from her friend for a moment as she walked toward the middle of the spring before turning back to Sango. "You should know how I feel because you wouldn't say a word to Miroku for the same reason, but at least I don't have to worry about that, no," she said, her voice turning soft and sad, her anger evaporating so quickly. Damn these hormones, she thought. "He's been faithful to one woman, even after she died." The slayer frowned, sighing in defeat about that one. Kagome was right about one thing. The male in question may not have made his choice between the two Mikos, but he had been faithful to his visits to his former flame, but she had also been there when he had put her in her place, telling her that he had no interest in her anymore save for information on their enemy and even now she was out of the picture with her death.

There was still the problem of his choice. Even putting the Miko in her place didn't mean he wasn't still in love with her, no, it just meant that he had finally stood up for Kagome, refusing to listen to the other woman disrespect Kagome for no reason other than her intense hate for the younger Miko. All of us felt that there was no love between the two, but until Inuyasha told her how he felt Kagome would always feel second best and now with the claim on her and her soul being repaired by that same claim it seemed the two would never get over it, never admit how they felt about each other and that wasn't okay. "Kagome, he confronted her the last time she tried to summon him. Hell, he down right refused to go to her and when she came to get him herself, he told her he wasn't going with her and if she needed to talk to him that it better be about Naraku." It was a lot for her to take in, but she did, coming back to sit against the side of the spring, her spot still far from her friend. Sango knew that Kagome believed her, but was still unsure about something.

"It doesn't matter anymore," the small woman said, sighing. "After all, I am pregnant with another male's children and I'm not a virgin anymore."

"That's a hard one to get over when you love someone, but at the same time, that love can get past it. If you truly love him and he loves you as much as the rest of us can see than you both will get over this. You know I'm right." She sighed again, but I could feel it, the fact that she was truly thinking it over and was willing to take that chance. "Besides, I think that Inuyasha was so mad at first because he does want to be with you a-" Kagome began to cry then, her eyes growing wide with tears that streamed down her face.

"He cursed at me," she muttered, remembering the day that he had asked her that hurtful question. "He hates me, and if there ever was love it's gone now, you know because you saw it, hell, you told Miroku to step back when he confronted me." She could remember the anger in those eyes of his, flashing at her with more than anger though as pain, hurt and disbelief resonated back at her. "And he doesn't just hate me for the sex part either, not the pregnancy either. I hurt him and he couldn't seem to believe I would do that..." And I wouldn't either. She admitted that she made a mistake and while she wasn't feeling the shame of it anymore, she still felt the guilt, especially when he looked at her as he had for the last few weeks, but that day was still stuck in her head. Sango then informed her of what had happened after she had disappeared that same day, the sadness of losing her had brought the Hanyou to his knees to the point that even his brother and Koga had appeared, disturbed by the pain he had let the world hear.

"He's a demon, Kagome, and even they have strong feelings and ties to those they consider part of their pack," she said, moving to place her hand on Kagome's bare shoulder. Her fingers tightened for a moment. "Like humans feel betrayal for a slight at them, demons take that same feeling and react, but their reaction isn't hateful, just blunt. Yeah, he's hurt, but just like every time he hurt you with her, you still forgave him and he's grown because of that." That was true. When she had first met the Hanyou he had wanted to kill her, had no mercy and hated even interacting with her or any person, demon or human. He had been a solitary figure, refusing to aid her unless the jewel was involved because that had been his ultimate goal in the beginning. He had wanted to be a full demon and now, now he hadn't even asked for it, forgetting it at times she was in danger. Before it had been, fuck you human...bitch...wench, they had all been said with hate for her and now, when he said those words they weren't said to hurt, no, there was another emotion behind them. Trust. He felt comfortable enough around them to become relaxed and while he didn't open up for the most part, at least with them, but he trusted them to be there for him. To fight along side of him and to have his back, to sleep close to them without a worry that they would kill him as he had been treated that way for most of his life. "Kagome, you are our glue. Without you we would have never come together with such ease and become what I feel is a family and he feels that way too. He has claimed us as his pack, his own little family and unless I am completely wrong and Kami I wish I was, he has never truly had that before."

It was true. Inuyasha had told her as much when they had been alone in her time. He had told her of his mother, the only one that had loved him and while her own family hadn't wanted him he had been allowed to stay in their estate until her death and even then they hadn't tried to save her... not even calling a doctor to make her last few days bearable. He had not been allowed in the home at that time and she had died alone, no one to hear her final words or anything. Sadness fell over her, so strong with her pregnancy hormones strengthening them. Touching her belly she made a silent promise to never do that to them. They would have a family...a pack to call their own. "Okay, I will talk to him about it, see what he wants us to be." Sango smiled before taking a vial from the assortment.

"Now, let's see what we have here," she said with a giggle as she opened it.


	19. Chapter 19

Miroku eyed the older demon, wondering what she was thinking with her information and then turned to look at the other two males standing so far away from each other, but it appeared they were both deep in thought so he returned his attention to the only woman in the room. "If," he said, "If I may ask you as to what you know about an Oni no Miko?" She turned to him, her golden eyes cold, but she did not look at him in anger, only in a detached sort of way.

"What else is there to tell you, monk?" she inquired drawing the attention of her son while his brother remained deep in thought. She could see his pain, read his features so well and it was something that she knew he would need time to get over as well. He was just as hurt as the Miko and not just because she had slept with another male. She could see that he was working on that, but now, he had to get past the own guilt he felt in failing her. She couldn't help him with that because she had never felt such a foolish emotion. No, she had little in the way of emotions as most powerful demons did. They did not allow emotions into the equation. Not even when her mate had gone to the human woman had she felt anything. No betrayal and no hate for either of them. She didn't care what he did as she hadn't felt any love for her mate either. She had only needed him to produce an heir, a powerful son to continue their bloodline.

"Why does Kagome have demonic powers? I do understand that she was given them for a reason, but how does that work when even Inuyasha's own mother gave birth to him with no issues? I doubt she had powers from that and what I understand was a love story in itself since he died for her." She chuckled.

"They are rare, Mikos with such power and yet with such love for others they should never approach," she said. "Demons are known to be dark creatures while humans are more pure with their emotions, but we are one in the same, save for powers. Humans do not often have such things and are normal and weak." She pointed to him, her thin finger nearly touching him as she leaned closer. "You, while you are a monk, you were not born with such power. It was learned, while Miko can be the same way they are also taught to hate those that would taint their very soul. Never to marry, nor to have children? Could you imagine that you are to hate while not hate? To be given such a task so young in life while retaining a purity that only a child could truly feel?" He shook his head. He couldn't imagine because as a monk he was allowed to be with a woman, to marry and continue his bloodline.

"Okay, so what you are saying is that Kagome and the other woman are different, but you said that she was trained as well and Kagome has only had a few days of training." She shook her head.

"I never said this Miko was trained, just that she was a Miko," she replied. Sesshomaru was listening to them talk, his eyes turning to his brother to see if he too was listening to the words that were being spoken, but no Inuyasha was in his own world. While he knew that everything was piling on top of all the occupants of his group, he knew that the Hanyou was feeling lost when all his friends were just trying to unbury themselves. Inuyasha wasn't even doing that. He was stuck under it, only aware that while he could breath his heart was hurting, his brain on overload and his soul was breaking as he wondered how he could be with Kagome when he would be tearing her soul asunder. "She had been born with such powers, never trained to use them until she had reached her twelfth birthday when she had been found wandering around the countryside. She had been lost, searching for food or maybe something else when she came to the village that she would later protect." Miroku raised a brow. Where was this girl's family and what had she been looking for? A home? Food? Shelter? Love? So many things that would lead a person to wander unchecked. "She had always known of her powers, or so the stories say, but again, no one knows if she wrote them. They are in a woman's hand, written so long ago that the paper was turning brown, wasting away, but she had female children too so who's to say it is not second hand knowledge."

"Mother, do not beat around the bush and answer his question," Sesshomaru spat, turning his gaze upon his matriarch. "What he wants to know is if the powers she got were from more than one source and if it also caused her to transform." Miroku shot him a look of surprise and nodded before turning back to the woman before him.

"She did transform, her body changed to match that of her mate, but only after she fell pregnant," the woman stated. "She did not become a full demon, though she did look like one, but merely a half demon, the blood running thru her veins holding that power. It never went away, even after she stopped having children." The door behind them opened, Kagome and Sango appearing before them. Kagome looked at Inuyasha, his back tense and his head down as he still was in deep thought, but then she turned to Sesshomaru.

"Shall we leave now?" she asked and with a tilt of his head he directed her attention back to his brother. She shook her head at his obvious hint to talk to the younger male. She would talk to him later, when they were alone, but right now they needed to find Naraku. "I-I, we, don't have time right now to talk," she said instead. "We need to get on the road." He understood and with a farewell toward his mother they turned to leave, his mother's next words stopping him.

"You will find him in the far south," she said, all of them turning toward her. "I have done what you asked of me all that time ago, Sesshomaru. I have sent spies out to find this Naraku and he is in the south, but be forewarned," she stated with a pregnant pause. "He seems to be alone and one knows that when an enemy seems outnumbered that it is only a façade." That being said she waved to them before turning and headed off to an unknown spot. This was news that would not bod well for the group because that meant he was in fact not alone and with no idea as to who was with him they had no plan to work with.  
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The pair watched from their hut, their unusual eyes taking in the village with its new features and old inhabitants. Yes, they had done nicely setting up the place that would be the graveyard for their enemies, well, Naraku's enemies and their prey. Humans walked around looking normal as they toiled the grounds of newly grown trees that bear fruit of the highest quality and the best after effects. Koe smirked. This wasn't always fun for her brother but he took just as much pleasure in the set up as she did, it was the waiting that he hated. He wanted to see this Miko, smell her, and take her as his own and while he could not do such a thing...at least the last part, he wanted to see her in the way that only a predictor would yearn for its prey. Walking out and leaving him behind she sniffed the air, the winds changing enough to bring her the smell of their prey that was just on the horizon and heading their way. Ah, so the news of their master had them moving and with that movement they would be forced to pass by them. She could only dream of all the ways she could keep their little treat with them, stall them as the girl was removed from their company, while she would enjoy eating her tasty meal, but only after they were in the pit of despair. Now, to figure out what weather would detain the group within their walls.

"Rain or snow, dear brother?" she asked with a look back at him, her tongue coming out to wet her pale lips. He looked around them, his eyes taking in their surroundings before giving her an answer.

"We are not surrounded by mountains that would retain the cold weather so well, but perhaps a good storm with a bit of sleet might keep them for a few days or even just rain that holds the dangers of lightning and torrential rains would be better in keeping them not only indoors, but would allow for cover when we finally view our reapings." She nodded. Ah, yes, they first must eat the fruit and then the fun would begin. Turning toward a young child, a girl that was barely ten she issued an order, the human nodding slowly at the command. Walking over to the closest tree she picked a few red apples before going and taking a few oranges from another tree. Putting them in a basket she rushed off as Chimei-teki turned to another villager, a male that was barely old enough to become a father, and took him into their hut, the darkness swallowing the pair as she turned back to the girl, watching as she disappeared from view before she joined her brother in the hut.

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Koga had joined the group as soon as they crossed the threshold of the Demoness's lands, the wolf jumping up at their appearance. "So, is anyone gonna answer me about why my Kagome looks so different and smells so off?" The woman in question slid off Inuyasha's back, her eyes wary as she approached the wolf leader, the Hanyou staying still even though his demon howled at the loss of her warmth and the simple fact that she was anywhere near his rival for her affections. She silenced him with a look, one that bespoke of her intentions with the wolf demon. Warning him to keep his hands to himself she began her tale, the one of her first sexual relation, one of the mark that was on her neck, and the fact that she was knocked up. He listened, though he wasn't happy about any of it, and while he was unhappy about her condition he still said, "I do not care about it, not in the way that over-ride's my feelings for you, Kagome." He yearned to lay his hands upon her, to take her away from the group and mark her as his, but with her words he could hear that she wasn't going anywhere and with the fact that he was aware of her feelings for the silver haired mutt, refused to allow him to take her. He wasn't afraid of Inuyasha, no, he may be frightened of the older brother, but he wouldn't do it knowing that Kagome would hate him for it. "I will go with you," he stated. "I will help to defeat the one that wants to take you from us all."

She blinked in both surprise and confusion, a smile appearing on her face at his words, his acceptance. He had not reacted like she had been prepared for. She had been sure that like Inuyasha, he would bombard her, want more information, would be mad at her and curse her for her actions, but he did none of that. She knew he was upset, but unlike the Hanyou she was not turned away, not treated as if the world were ending and that...that made her feel better, but it also bespoke of how his feelings were not like the Hanyou. No, he was not emotional like Inuyasha, which told her of how much the silver haired male felt about her. He was mad, and yes that hurt her, but the fact that he was mad told her of how attached he was to her. Sango had told her as much and while she believed her about his feelings she also felt that it could be because they had been together for far longer than the rest of them.

"Are you done, wench?" inquired the very one she had been thinking of and with a look toward him, her smile actually reaching her eyes as she nodded. "Let's get to it then." Getting back upon his back she clutched onto his fire-rat just seconds before they all took off, running off toward where Sesshomaru's spies had seen the evil demon. They wondered if he were truly alone, but knew that somehow he was not and while that was more than likely given with how he liked to spawn his own little helpers they wondered as to whom they would be fighting and would it be before they reached his new hideout. It didn't take long for Kagome to find herself closing her eyes and falling asleep to the warmth of the male carrying her, his demon aura seeming to sooth the smaller auras in her stomach. She found it strange and yet, it seemed to aid in keeping her from getting sick as she had come to do when motion was involved. She couldn't wait until she was past all this, though she had never read a book about it she had taken a sex-ed class in her studies for school. It had been a part of her home-economics class when she had been going to school so it had been a minute, but she recalled some of the teachings and even with this knowledge it was lacking from her actual demonic pregnancy experience.

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Naraku stood in his main room, again alone save for his Saimyōshō who buzzed about with information on his newest pawns. He knew that they didn't trust him and though it made him chuckle that they would still do this task for him, he knew that they too would betray him but he didn't care. He would take them into him as well, joining their powers with his own. "Just you wait, my prey, I have so many plans for you all." Turning from them he headed outside, his new castle on the edge of a mountain that had once held Ryūkotsusei, the demon that even Inuyasha's own father had failed to slay only for his half breed son to take him down. He had hoped that the dragon demon would have done away with someone that Naraku viewed as weak, but alas he had failed and now that very idea was gone too. He was growing more powerful with each battle and although Sesshomaru had at one point tried to do away with his own brother it appeared that they were no longer at odds. He would have to make sure that this new battle, if anyone could call his new minions' underhanded ways a battle, wouldn't fail and while he was sure it would not he needed to ensure that his prize was taken out of the fray immediately upon weakening.

He had seen that she had not only gotten stronger as well, evident by their last fight, but that her darkness was now disappearing and that was something he could not allow. He needed that darkness to taint her and in doing so it would allow her to be taken over easier and it would taint her unborn babies. Ah, that would be such a wonderful thing and it would only make him all the more powerful. What made him even more impatient for that to happen was if the Miko gave him a daughter. She wouldn't be treated as such, just another incubator with her mother when those babies were out. He would scorch that horrid mark off of her and make her his in mind, body, and soul! Laughing he returned to his castle, his spies flying out to check upon the pair of demons and the group that would soon be enjoying their rough treatment.

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They had only been travelling for a week, maybe less when a small girl ran to them, her cries of fear filling the air around them. Inuyasha was the first to voice his discomfort with the small girl, feeling like something was off about her, but Kagome agreed with him, at least on something being off, but since the small girl seemed so frightened she said that they should see what was wrong with her... That was how it all started.

"H-Help me!" she cried, looking at them with a mixture of fear and unease, but it was her voice that alerted all to the fact that this girl wasn't normal. She didn't sound afraid in the sense that something was chasing her, but as if she were sent to give them a message of fear. "There is a bad man at my village!" Sesshomaru watched the girl and noted that she looked like Rin, her dark hair short and pulled back into a ponytail. She looked healthy though, as if she were not as bad off as her clothing depicted her to be, the rags barely her size as they sagged off her small form, but upon looking into her eyes he found that he too agreed with his brother. The others seemed a little wary of the girl, though Miroku approached her first with a small sutra in his hand hidden from her view. She eyed him, backing a way a step when he came too close to her.

"A bad man?" the monk inquired, looking back to where she came from only to note that there were dark clouds hoovering over the land that seemed to be hours away from where they were. She nodded, explaining that she had managed to run from him as he ate her neighbors. "What does he look like?"

"He has long dark hair and his eyes are red like blood!" she cried as the sound of a thunderclap pierced the skies, a lightning bolt striking down behind her where the clouds were slowly moving from...or were they getting bigger? "He wasn't very big or look like a demon..." she faded off as a strong, cold wind blew across the clearing they were in.

"We need to find a place to seek shelter," Sango stated as she noticed how fast the impending storm was moving toward them. "I don't like the feel of that." Upon agreement they decided to take the girl with them, but when she grew upset that they were moving away from her village Kagome and Sango took her to the side, both women trying to get her to understand that they would be no help to her if the weather were to make them or her sick. It took a bit of encouragement, but finally she agreed to go with them, telling them that she knew of a cave close by before running off ahead of them. There were hesitations from the adults in the group, but Shippo and Rin seemed to want to follow the girl, ignoring the cries of their guardians they were off.

"I don't like this," Inuyasha stated, noting that the girl had not only gotten what she wanted, but had avoided the sutra that Miroku was now pocketing.

"She is just a human and a child at that, brother," Sesshomaru stated, still eyeing where his ward had run off with unease. She might be a human child, but he didn't trust her with his ward and thus walked a little faster to ensure that she would be safe.

"We'll just have to keep an eye on her," Kagome stated, moving quicker as the clouds above them covered the sunshine and allowed the chill to move in with it. "Though I doubt she is a demon or even one of Naraku's minions since she holds no demonic aura or a scent of him..." Still something about the girl was off and they just had to wait and see if she were an enemy or a trap by their enemy. When Kagome and Inuyasha entered the cave that the young girl had told them about they found her sitting in the far corner with Shippo and Rin sitting as close as she would let them, seeming a little frightened of the pair. "What is your name?" the Miko inquired as she moved to sit close to her, the small girl's eyes wide as she edged closer to her and away from the other two.

"Minako," she said. Kagome smiled at her as Inuyasha moved to stand close to her, fearing that the small girl could really do something to the Miko. "Are you the Miko that everyone says is very powerful?" This drew the attention of the Hanyou, his brother also staying close to his ward as Miroku and Sango prepared a fire while Jaken just stood off to the side. He didn't like being in the group and while he knew he could never voice such a thing to his Lord he still felt it. The cave was rather big, but it still felt too cramped for his taste.

"Okay, Minako, where are you from? And how do you know of me?" She was given a small story about the girl's village, and how the two people that ran it now had told her to find them, to bring the powerful Miko who traveled with a silver haired demon. She looked over at them now, noting that there were two demon's with silver hair and a wolf demon, seeing him brought her fear back up and she noted that the human child with them also seemed uneasy around the male. "Okay, well, that makes sense since we have been helping others with the same problem as yours."

"Kagome," Sango called, pointing to her big yellow bag. "We don't have enough food to feed everyone and with that storm about to br-" she was cut off as another rumble of thunder gave warning before all they could see outside the mouth of the cave was a curtain of rain and nothing else. "Shit, well, what I was about to say was we can't go hunt." Minako smiled shyly now as she produced several apples and oranges from her small sack, stating to their surprised looks that she had been in the orchard of their village collecting for her family when the demon had attacked. When none of them asked for one she took one of the redder apples and took a bite to show that it was safe and good. Shippo grabbed for an orange, smelling it with such a serious look before proclaiming it was safe. The only ones who didn't take a fruit were Inuyasha, Koga or Sesshomaru while the others finished off the meal before Shippo asked for a story.

"Well, how about a new one?" she asked the kitsune, the apple that she had just ingested giving her an idea as he nodded. "This a story about a girl that was so fair and kind that everyone fell in love with her at first sight," she said softly as the others continued to prepare what was left of her ramen supply and other things like jerky and ninja food, Sesshomaru, Inuyasha and Koga standing by and looking uninterested, but they were listening to her story as she continued on without a pause, "But one person, an evil lady wanted nothing more than her to be dead because she was envious of the girl's beauty..."


	20. Chapter 20

The rain continued for several hours, long into the darkness and when it finally stopped the group voted to stay in the cave for a night, all the children asleep while Sango, Miroku, and Kagome lay near the fire resting as well. Inuyasha sat beside her, watching her even breathing as her body was curled into a fetal position. He wanted to touch here, to make sure that she was right there next to him because he feared that soon she would be leaving him. Yes, he knew that she had asked him, promising with his permission that she would stay by his side and while the fact of the matter was she had nowhere else to go since she couldn't go home, he feared that she would run off with her mate who identity was still unknown. Even Koga claimed that he could smell no male on her and that bugged him almost as much as it did the Hanyou. There was no telling who had marked the woman, though now because of his older brother he was certain it had not been the spider demon. His evil scent was too strong, but maybe he was at fault for the hiding of the other male's scent. It would only make sense if he wanted to play a trick on them, a farce that he was the father of her unborn pups. He noted that her stomach wasn't too far along, though it would all depend on how many pups she would have and that was something that not even his brother could tell. The power of the aura that resided in her stomach was too strong to be one, but maybe two or three. No more than that or she would surely have become much larger at a quicker rate.

Koga was watching him and her, he could feel those blue orbs drilling into his familiarity with the Miko. Inuyasha knew the other male still longed for her, he had said as much, but he knew the wolf was jealous of him and he knew that before this he would have laughed at it. Not now. No, he was jealous too. He was getting past the fact that she had been with another when he felt so strongly about her, but he also knew that she had no memory of that night so she didn't know who she had allowed to mark her. Now they knew it was a dog demon though and that made it worse for him because it was his own clan, his own people that had claimed her and for that he was immensely relieved. Now he needed to know if this person was still alive and with the news that whomever had impregnated her was very powerful he feared that he would not be able to destroy this rival. "I feel that we know this male that claimed her," Sesshomaru stated, his voice low as he eyed the intruder that lay near his ward. "I also fear that Naraku knows and has used whatever transpired that night to his advantage. He may have even set it up without thought of the aftereffects."

"You mean he tricked her?" Koga inquired, his eyes trailing over to the older demon. "Illusion?"

"No, I think that whatever happened that night was something that was bound to happen and with it Naraku lay his plans, using the pair to further taint the woman." Inuyasha was beginning to think that his brother also knew who had laid with the Miko and he wasn't happy with that revelations at all. If his brother were keeping it from him than that meant it was either really bad or really good or maybe he didn't really know and he was be- No, his brother wasn't the positive kind of person. No, he would only say what he thought and if it hurt the other person he could really give two shits about that. In some ways he was like their enemy. Cold and calculating when it came down to it and that wasn't always a bad thing. He had wanted that for himself at one point, wishing to be a full demon without all the emotions of a human to cloud his judgement. His blood was a good mixture, or so Kagome had always told him, loving his half breed status when Kikyo had longed for him to be human. All three of them held different views of who he should be and with as long as he had been with Kagome he knew she would accept him as any of them, but she would be most happy with his Hanyou form. She didn't judge him, nor did she ever run from him, save for in the beginning, but she had never held it against him. Hell, the small Miko had held no fear when his demon blood had taken over him completely and others had fled, even Sango and Miroku had stayed back... but not Kagome. She showed no fear for him, nor for his brother who had once tried to melt her with his poison. She was going to make a beautiful mother, showing her pups that love need not hold one back, that their blood meant nothing to those who truly cared about you while also being tough and ready to battle when need be. For her friends or for him.

She had been forgiving too, even to those who never liked her no matter what. She had shown that with Kikyo, even in the end refusing to strike the other woman down. He would have done it if Naraku hadn't taken her out. He would have killed the clay doll of Kikyo without remorse because he had come to the conclusion that she wasn't Kikyo, not really.

"So, she mated with a male that she liked enough to allow him to have se-" A growl came from the Hanyou sitting close to her. Koga shot him a look. "Anyway, mutt, she must have loved him in some way, her bond to him allowed the mark to stick. And yet, I do not know of anyone that matches that description save fo-" Another warning growl, but this one was from Sesshomaru. "Fuck! Between you two dog shits I can't ask a simple question!" A whimper came from the woman laying next to him, a soft sound as she shifted in her sleep drew all three males to look in her direction.

Kagome felt his touch, so soft and yet his claws left a mark down her skin, a touch that made her sigh as if she had been waiting for him to touch her like that and yet she couldn't make out his face as he smirked at her. He breathed her name, "Ka-go-me," like a sigh of satisfaction, of want as he continued to rub his palms along her body until they disappeared under the warm waters of the hot spring. The cool stone of the side was feeling cooler and cooler as her body grew warmer and warmer. It was heaven as he touched her in places that no one but maybe herself had touched before when alone in her room, but she couldn't see who was touching her as she was facing away from him.

"Pleeease," she whispered as he caressed her ass, his claws digging into her flesh as he squeezed her cheeks. She didn't know what she was begging for, but she knew that he was touching her as if she were the most beautiful creature in the world, as if her body were that of a goddess and he was worshiping it.

"Please," she whispered, sounding so pained as she strained to move toward the Hanyou who was now looking rather like a tomato, his nose and those of the other two demons tingling with the new scent and Inuyasha found himself moving her into his lap, golden eyes narrowing at them with a clear warning. Sesshomaru couldn't help but smirk while Koga grumbled under his breath before turning away. His claws tangled themselves in her hair, stroking her scalp in a soothing gesture with a hope that she would calm down with her movements and that scent that was slowly driving him crazy. He had smelt it a few times over the years, but had not known why, but it seems that whatever she was dreaming about was causing it to grow stronger than before. Was she dreaming about the male who had mated her? If that was the case he didn't want her to dream about that, but before he could do more another moan caught his attention as well as the other demons that were still standing by silently. This one wasn't from her this time and the scent that clung to the air was one of fear.

"It's the slayer," Koga stated, his voice coming out rough as he tried to dampen his anger. "She looks like she's in pain." The wolf demon moved closer to her, noting her knitted brow as she shoved her body away from the monk who was also looking a little upset in his own sleep. "What is wrong with them?" No one had an answer.

She could see her brother, standing over with his weapon that had blood already coating it from his slayings, but suddenly it was her standing over her brother in that scene from when she had first learned of Naraku...of when she first met Kagome and Inuyasha...when she had first met- Who else had she met? There was a man and he held her heart, but she could not recall his name, but in that moment she recalled that she had just slayed her whole village.

That's where she stood now, no longer on the castle grounds, but in her village with blood all over her slayer uniform. She was a monster! She had killed all of her own people and now she was hunting her brother down, wanting to find him dead or alive, but she was hunting him...

She was torn in between the facts and the fiction, her mind twisting to keep the two separate and her heart was trying to control the feelings that clenched the organ so tightly. Beside her Miroku thrust about, trying to get away from his friends, from the woman clinging to him as the sound of his wind tunnel filled the silent space.

Not even his lips produced sound that could be heard over his winds even though the tunnel was covered as it always was, but he could hear it as Kagome held tightly to Inuyasha who was keeping them from being sucked in by his sword being stuck in the earth. Sango was at his side, trying to get him to close it while crying out for the safety of their friends and yet he couldn't move. Couldn't do anything since his body had finally run out of time, the feeling of it clawing its way to his heart and piercing it. It was painful but the sound of the woman next to him whispering, "Are you trying to kill us?!" was even more painful, increasing the pain to such a tolerance that he wished he was dead already, wished that he could just dig a hold and wither away. He wanted to be free of that fear, but it was a real one. He could end up killing his friends with his curse, cursing them to the emptiness of his wind tunnel.

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Hanging out near the cave, but hidden by the rain and quiet by the thunder this creature lurked, her body wet from the rain, but it didn't hamper her or frighten her as she sat by the entrance. Koe smirked as the water washed over her body, almost calming her raging heart as the pain of the occupants was being drawn into her, covering her like a warm blanket ant then there was the pleasure, her whole body rippling with the sensations of what Kagome was feeling coupled with the slayer's fear of being the culprit that killed her family, of being after her brother and not knowing if she wanted him to be dead so she wouldn't have to kill him or for him to be alive for the same reason.

Then the wind tunnel, that was a wonderful curse, one that would drag the person into oblivion and to think that she was sure he had gone thru all the stages, denial being that he wouldn't die for a long time and finding that you had no time. You wouldn't be with your loved one, you wouldn't be able to keep your friends safe, to being so weak that you killed those very people in your life. Dragging them into the afterlife with you. Looking to the skies she knew that they only need to have the storm going for just another hour for the other people to experience their own inner fears, inner demons so to speak. And yet she could hear someone talking in the cave, her white eyes widening before narrowing in anger. Who was awake?! They were all supposed to be asleep! The girl had failed, but no matter, once she found out who wasn't enjoying the torture of their nightmares would find themselves a part of that very nightmare.

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She could see the wolves, hear them as they howled over the horizon, hunting her for an invitation to dinner, but she was the dinner and that frightened her. She had just escaped with her life from the other ones in the village. She looked up and saw Sesshomaru, his silver hair swirling in the winds, his golden eyes calling to her with a need to be beside him. He would protect her and yet this time he spat at her, telling her that she wasn't to follow him. He hated humans and would kill her if she came near him again. That wasn't a problem because she knew he wouldn't since he was her Lord, her protector, but when a growl sounded before her eyes as a male with long black hair conversed with him. But he wasn't conversing with him because there was a puddle of blood seeping out from under him and she could feel his pain as it came off of him in waves, like it had that first time she had seen him leaning against that tree.

He had looked like he was so lost, so dejected and so she had approached him with food and he snapped at her, a cold tone that bespoke of his malice...

That very demon was looking worried, his face remaining passive, but his eyes speaking volumes as he took his ward into his arms as she whimpered and cried. What was going on with all the humans? Why even the kitsune was having issues with a nightmare. He noted that the young girl, Minako, wasn't having a reaction at all, in fact she was sleeping like the dead and he wondered. Sniffing the air he couldn't smell it at first, but with a lean towards the girl he sniffed again only to snarl as he drew back. "She smells like death," he spat turning to his brother and the two other males.

"Death? But she's not dead," Koga asked, confused as he joined the other male to take a sniff of the air that did in fact seem stale with the scent of death, but there was the smell of life too. The girl smelled like real blood flowed thru her body, so why did she smell of death? There was no decision to be made, they needed to find out why this girl smelled so strange and it wasn't because she herself were dead or even a clay doll because while she smelled stale like death, her scent held no graveyard soil or bones. No, she smelled healthy but like a stale health. Inuyasha lay Kagome down and walked closer than the other two males, his finger going out to touch her skin only to step back with a shrug.

"She isn't cold," he stated, his brother tensing as he looked down at the girl in his arms and then back to Inuyasha and it struck the three at the same time. The kitsune held a cold touch, as did Rin because they weren't as close to the fire and that was what made them realize what was going on because the girl shouldn't be warm like she was with no touch of ice. With the weather outside chilly the cave would also be colder. Inuyasha snatched her up, his brother stepping back as they took her to the opening of the cave and thrusting her into the torrent rain while still remaining in his hand. The water woke her up and it was in that second that all three saw it flicker in her eyes as they turned white for no more than two seconds as the green they were appeared and darkened. She was under control! Bringing her back into the cave they just stood there trying to scent out what they had smelled earlier and yes, it was still there, that scent of death.

She now looked up at them as if she couldn't see them, but her mouth moved and words did come out, but her voice was different. "Why did you do that?" A smirk twisting on her tiny lips and Sesshomaru felt an intense heat come off of her. Her skin flushed as she asked him again, "Why would you do something like that to a human child? Are you such a monster that you would allow a child to become sick and die from your inconsiderate actions?"

"Don't listen to her," Sesshomaru snarled, but he didn't raise a hand to her, no he moved to place Rin by Kagome as he straightened to look into the girl's dark eyes, the green gone from them. "She isn't saying it, but whomever is controlling her is." Inuyasha growled, yeah, he got that, but it was the voice that she was using and it was so cold and so telling strangely enough. Like he could feel the disgust in the toneless voice and the way she played on his emotions with such a guilty set of words. He wanted to drop her and while he knew he couldn't hurt since she was real he waited for her to say more.

"Yes, the girl does have a village and all of the people are alive...for now," she said with a twisted smile. "Unless you want them to die or your little friends," she sneered. "to continue to experience this every night until they die, the pain that will keep them unable to sleep and relax as their dreams become your nightmares..." she paused, her eyes narrowing, "Then you will come to her village and give me the shard, well, portion of the Shikon no Tama. I give you until the next sunrise." And suddenly the rain stopped, no slowing down or letting up, but just stopped as the sun rose high over the trees and the girl went limp in his hand. The three were stuck there as the rest of their group began to stir, Rin shifting in the arms of her lord as she opened her eyes to peer up at him. He nearly growled at the look in her eyes. Fear. As he looked up at the group he could see it in all of their eyes, save for Koga and Inuyasha. There was fear, guilt, a wariness that filled the air with such a thick scent that he released his ward before heading out of the cave.

That was just the tip of the iceberg that was that day.


	21. Chapter 21

It wasn't long into their trek into this village that Kagome got the feeling that something was being kept from her and not just her, but from all save for the three demon males. They seemed to be sticking extra close to them, Sesshomaru staying almost on top of Rin while Koga kept pace next to her on one side while Inuyasha stood on the other side, growling lowly at the wolf demon. She sighed, drawing the attention of both males. She wanted to ignore it, that feeling of shame that had come from her dreams, the fact that she had enjoyed a man's touch whom she had no idea of identity. But it still lingered and she knew that both men could smell it, but she could scent their own guilt, like it was hiding below the surface and with Inuyasha she could scent his unease. He did walk close to her, but at the same time she could feel he was holding her at a distance while Koga smelled angry. Hmm...

"What is going on?" she asked, glancing at the girl who was their guide. She wasn't asking her and the pair knew it as she noted that they both tensed. Sango and Miroku looked over at them, both walking in front of the trio while Sesshomaru and his group brought up the rear. The girl didn't even acknowledge them, almost acting as if she forgot they were there. Her calmness was alarming after yesterday, but she still held the thought that something was wrong with the child. "Inuyasha?" she asked, his golden eyes refusing to meet her chocolatey orbs as he said nothing. Turning to Koga she tried again. "Koga?" He looked away from her, anger fading slightly as guilt filled the air and she stopped, her feet coming to a stop. "I have had enough of this! we have been on the road for less than an hour and you all are acting weird! All of you!" she hissed as she threw a look to the older demon.

"It's nothing, Kagome," Koga stated, answering for the other two demons. He looked toward the young child ahead of them, as if to push it off on the child for the weirdness going on. She knew that was part of it, she herself could smell it now too and she wondered if they had realized it as well.

"Is it the death?" she whispered, drawing her brows up to let them know she too had smelled it and while it alarmed her as well she wasn't worried about the child being dead. This girl was alive, but her aura was darkened like death. That had to be where the scent was coming from. Inuyasha nodded, not surprised that she was getting a strong sense of smell. "It's her aura," she stated simply. They couldn't see the aura that was coming off her the child, but as a Miko she could see it. It unnerved her with how dark it was, as if the energy were being taken from her and that was what was bringing about the scent of death.

"That's not all," Miroku stated as he narrowed his eyes at the Hanyou. The male was hiding something, they all were and none of them were hiding it as well as they thought they were. "You know something," he accused, his eyes falling on each male in turn. Sesshomaru didn't look away, but he didn't deny it either as Koga let out a grunt, also returning his unwavering gaze at the monk. Neither gave him anything, but Inuyasha started to move away from the Miko and when she noticed this she said but one word.

"Sit." 'Thunk' he hit the ground with a silent oomph and there she was, the child had stopped walking, shooting the others a cold look that even Sango noticed while Miroku was too intent on Kagome and Inuyasha. "Are you going to tell me?" She wanted to walk away, to not force him to tell her, a fear that something was wrong...something deadly was waiting for them and he knew what it was, but she needed to know. He shot her a look and in those golden orbs of his was a warning, a silent thought that caused her to fall silent, her questions stuck in her throat. He was keeping silent about something that could not be discussed before the intruder of the group and yet it was important. "Are you worried about my reaction?" she asked softly and when he refused to look at her she felt anger rise in her throat, killing any questions that had resided there only moments before. He was acting like Sango had only days ago when they had been in the springs. She wasn't a weak person and she could handle whatever it was that was hiding, but when she noted that Minako was watching her she said to him instead, "This is not over." Walking over to the small child she told her that they were ready to leave and off they went.

It took only another thirty minutes for others to note the change in Sango first, her eyes wide when she looked over the land before them, as if she saw something and while no one else saw it she froze, her body tensing. Kagome was about to go to her side when she noted that Miroku hadn't even appeared to notice that his fiancée had stopped, no, he was more concerned with his hand as he continued on. The Miko went to her friend's side, trying to get the slayer to move with her and after a few soft words managed to do just that as she talked with the older woman. "What is wrong, Sango?" The slayer looked to her, her brown hair shifting over her shoulder as she spoke, her words so soft.

"Do I truly love my brother?" she asked, her eyes closing for a moment as she sighed. She knew that Kagome was aware of what had transpired at the castle, while none of the others had ever been told the full tale, not even Miroku knew. She was afraid to confide in him all that had happened, and how weak she had been. Too blind to see that they were just lambs to the slaughter. Inuyasha was still close enough to Kagome, still sticking to her, to hear what the slayer had asked.

"Why would you think that you don't?" Kagome inquired. Inuyasha knew why and it was the same reason he had bound himself to Kikyo after she had been resurrected and the same reason that he hadn't wanted to admit his feelings about Kagome to her, not even himself, but with her final death he had seen what she was so now the slayer had to see that her brother was in the same boat. That she herself was in that boat, she had been tricked and like him she had been tortured by the continued existence of her brother, long past when he had died or if he had died. No one had an answer to that, even when Naraku had claimed that the young male was only alive because of the shard in his back. No one had seen him in so long that it was a fear that he was dead and while he too worried that she would be forced to accept the slayer's death without her to relieve him of his tortured existence, his grief over what he had done, he hoped that she would understand like he had, that it wasn't her fault.

"I should have seen it," she muttered. Koga also could feel her pain, her own life miserable because of her perceived failure with her own clan as he had with his own pack. He had lost so many of them because of Naraku and because he had failed to see the trap that had been set. The mood that took over the group was one that weighed them down, kept them occupied with their own tragedies and failures. "I should have known to investigate this sudden call, but we knew this lord, he had called upon us before. Even then I fell for the lies fed to me by that bastard and went after someone else that I had no business with, ever." She looked over at Inuyasha, an apology on her lips, but at his look she shut her mouth. He was looking at her, with such an open expression of his own self loathing.

"You don't owe me anything, Sango," he said. "We were all tricked by that bastard and we all want to kill him, but even knowing that once we kill him that we will be better off, it will not change anything." He sighed. "I would have reacted the same way as you, but Naraku didn't give me anyone to hunt down, no, that's not true. He gave me Kikyo to hate, to want to kill, but I didn't give into it. I would rather just be done with her and her supposed love, but in the end I couldn't really bring myself to hate her as she was doing what others had already done." Kagome was in shock, as were a few others that had been listening.

"But still," she began only to be cut off by Koga this time, his face set in a sneer though, it failed to change his eyes, the blue orbs watching her with the same self loathing of the Hanyou.

"I, too, have fallen under that same category, human," he spat, the pain and abhorrence of his actions tainting his speech. "I went after Inuyasha with the idea that he had slain my men when in reality it was Kagura under the orders of Naraku who had slain my men." He sighed and tensed when the whimper of Rin reached his ears. All of them turned to see the fright on the girl's face as she watched him, heard his anger and was afraid for her life since it had been his own wolves that had come after her. "I have done more wrong than good before I came across one human who didn't seem to fear me." He looked to Kagome. "Hell, she even slapped me in front of my men." That drew shocked looks from most of the group, save for Sesshomaru who knew how formable she could be when she was defending herself or her friends. "I could have struck back, but her gall had me shook and mesmerized. Never have I ever had a woman, a human at that, strike at me with no fear for herself. All the more reason she would have made a fine mate for me, even my pack have recognized her as one of us. She saved my people, saved me, when she could have just turned her back on us, allowed those birds to kill my men. She fought alongside of us as if we had been friends, allies, forever."

"She is one to garter respect," the large demon stated, assuring the girl beside him again that no one would hurt her, not while he was on watch. "She has saved my ward as well, even when she knew that I was out to kill her and my half breed brother." Everyone seemed to be cheering up as Kagome shook her head.

"I am nothing," she stated as she looked down at her hands. "I'm the one that messed up, shattering the shard." She noted that Miroku was still looking at her hand and with a look toward Sango she motioned to the forlorn male. The slayer moved to stand by him as Kagome yawned, her dream from the night before keeping her from getting a restful sleep.

"You tired, wench?" the silver haired male inquired, pulling her onto his back without waiting for an answer. At first she complained that she wasn't tired and didn't need to be treated as if she were a child. He chuckled at her, worry still haunting him at what the child had said. He wouldn't allow her to fall, no, he couldn't live without her and knowing that he had allowed it to happen brought shame to his scent. She hugged him from behind, words not needed as she allowed her own scent to calm him, to wash over him.

"Miroku, what's wrong?" the slayer asked, his hand that was still out holding his attention, only to be brought out of it when she clasped said hand. He shot a look over at her before attempting to remove his hand from her. "Miroku?"

"You shouldn't touch it," he murmured, sounding vaguely angry. He was never angry, not really. He was a jolly guy almost all the time, joking and teasing. She didn't like the way he was acting. Asking him why softly only seemed to make him even more upset, his voice rising a notch. "Because it is cursed and you would be cursed to even think that we could live happily with this deadly curse attached to me!" All eyes fell on him, Kagome blinking at the malice behind his words. She knew of his fear, hell, she held the same fear that she was cursed, after all she had once held the tainted pearl in her body. She had cursed them by shattering it. She had lost her normal life because of it. Even with all her friends around her, her family by her side on both sides of the well, she still felt that she was cursed. If she hadn't come to this side of the well, to this time, she wouldn't be where she was. Pregnant, mated to someone she had no information on and wouldn't until the children were born because then she would see some of the male who had claimed her. If she had not come to this time then Sango would not have lost her family nor would Kikyo been brought back to torment the Hanyou holding her, but she tried to mask it. She didn't need him to worry about her, not when it was clear something was bothering him.

"We all bear a curse, monk," Sesshomaru spat, angry at all the misery that was befalling the group and all courtesy of the child before them, no, not even her held that power. No, Naraku did and he was behind this, the lord was sure of that. "And while yours will kill you, it is not going to in the end...unless you wish to allow it." Sango shot him a look of pure rage while Miroku seemed stunned at the demon lord's words. "The Miko held a curse, my brother was also cursed, the slayer was cursed, we all have something to bear and if we allow it to destroy us than why are we even fighting?"

"We fight for our friends," Kagome said, laying her head against Inuyasha's back with a soft smile. "We fight for our family. For those who have lost their lives to Naraku and those that are still alive for him to torment." Miroku managed to smile at that. Knowing that even the almighty demon dog was able to admit that he too fought for something, that he was willing to fight alongside them even when he hated humans, or even any kind of companion, as it had been apparent that even Jaken suffered his wrath for nothing more than opening his mouth. No more words were spoken, but it wasn't needed as the village appeared before them, still in the distance, but they were there and the screams that filled the air from it made them rush, the girl left behind for a moment as she watched them run toward the trap, a smirk twisting her lips.

Appearing at the entrance they found the source of the cries as a male, obviously once human loomed over ten feet tall with a warped body that while still human in some way was more like a being that had been doused in acid, his body physically melting as bubbles oozed over his entire body. He was thrashing against the pain, tearing apart huts and destroying a field as he ate the inhabitants. Kagome slipped off Inuyasha's back, but found herself being moved behind the Hanyou when she tried to come around him. "Stay back," was all he said as he drew his weapon, the other members of their group rushing to aid him as they went after the human turned monster. Kagome just stood there for a moment in anger at his dismissive tone, his words mixing in with her own torrent of feelings, but with a mental shake she grabbed her bow from the discarded yellow bag, the quiver thrown over her shoulder as she ran to aid them, knowing that even though the human would not be spared since he was going to die from whatever had infected him that they might still need her help. She could bring him down just as easily as them, after all she had her own power and that of her unborn children.

It didn't take long for the people get to safety with the help of Kagome and Miroku, Rin left in the care of Jaken under strict orders from Sesshomaru to get her to a safe space, Shippo also following them. Sango busted her boomerang out, taking the giant down with a few precise strikes while Inuyasha tore him limb from limb and the dog lord struck him with his own weapon while Koga helped in removing any people left straggling behind to Kagome and the monk. They knew that this monster wasn't the one that was really their opponent, but they wanted him out of the way to deal with the real one behind the random attack. "Ah, so you are the Miko," came a male voice from behind her, she turned to see that it was a dark haired male, his eyes shining with lust as he looked her over. She squirmed under his watch as his eyes came to her slightly rounded stomach and noted the disgust in his black gaze. Before she had a chance to react he had her in his arms, crushing her backside against the front of his body as he hissed in her ear, "Do not worry, little human. I will not hurt the pups, but you must give me the Shikon no Tama or you will find that your friends cannot be saved from what is poisoning their blood."

She gasped in fear, her mouth unable to move with the threat of her friends lives. What was he talking about? No one seem- The fears that had came to light this morning. Though they were fears that she knew plagued her friends, she also knew that they hadn't been this strong in forever. They had gotten past them, moved them to the back burner since she had met them. "The fruit," she whispered, his head brushing against her as he nodded. "Take it," she whispered, but instead of taking the jewel he yanked her away from the battle, Miroku noticing that she was no longer helping him. He narrowed his amethyst eyes at the male holding her captive. He brought up his arm to attack, ready to remove the beads if need be as the sound of the fight behind him just background noise. Kagome shook her head at him, but he still kept his arm up until the sound of wind hit his ears. Koga turned now, noticing that while the villagers had escaped, Kagome and Miroku were quiet, no longer calling out to let him know that all was clear. His blue eyes narrowed at the dark haired male.

"The fuck?" he asked, his blue eyes watching as Kagome tried to relax, her body refusing to allow such a thing when not only she was in danger, but her pups were also in a dangerous position. "Let her go, bastard!" The male shook his head with a smirk.

"Ah, but I can't do that, Naraku would be displeased that I let his prize go," he replied as he tightened his hold on the Miko in his arms. "Not that I really care what the half breed wants, but we were promised the joy of devouring you all and that is what makes me just a bit more compliant." Miroku shivered in disgust at his words, but lowered his hand, the winds still whipping around in his head. He had to get past this, just like Sesshomaru had said. What were they fighting for? RIght now, they were fighting to save Kagome and her babies. "Now, unless you want I should run her thru and killing not only her but that fucker's babies, then you will lay down your weapons." He placed a hand on her stomach as his tongue lapped at her neck, next to the mark that flared in anger. The monster fell with such force that the ground shook, but neither one of the demon dog males paid it much attention as they too looked over at his loud words. He wanted them to know he had the one that would be able to kill the spider demon. No one put a weapon down though, Inuyasha still holding Tessaiga before him and Sesshomaru standing tall, his golden gaze cold as he noted the weak demon before him. Yes, he was weak, but the dog lord felt that there was another one around them, hiding in the darkness of the huts, but waiting for a moment that he would not allow to come to pass.

"You mother fucker!" the Hanyou hissed as Kagome shivered in both disgust and fear. She wouldn't allow them to hurt her pups, no, she would rather die than for something to happen to the innocent creatures that were still waiting to be born, but she didn't want to go with them and with the words they were saying it was obvious that Naraku was waiting for her. The air around them was charged, the heaviness of it almost chocking her. She could smell it, see it, sense it as it swirled around her. She felt the auras of her children just seconds before the male holding her hissed in pain and surprise when her stomach burned his fingers. He didn't release her though, growling at the unseen opponents.

"What the fuck was that?" he hissed before raising his hand to bring it down upon her stomach, the woman arching her body back as her power surged around her, but the male, her target, was yanked from her as her purifying aura burst forth. When she fell forward Inuyasha was instantly at her side, clutching her to him as they all turned to see that the male was no longer alone and neither person before them appeared human anymore.

"Ah, so she is as powerful as they say, even allowing her children to aid her," the white haired woman spat, her eyes narrowing. "You would be the most delicious, but for now, you will enjoy those nightmares that will replace your reality." And with a snap of her fingers all hell seemed to break loose as Inuyasha found himself no longer holding Kagome, but Kikyo, her body slashed and blood running down her. Letting out a surprised cry he released her, the Miko falling back in surprise at the male before her. She didn't know what to say, but it didn't matter as he seemed to transform before her eyes and she found herself staring into the narrowed eyes of Naraku, his red eyes flashing.

Miroku fell to his knees as he felt himself dying, his heart clenching at the pain that was somehow making it around the poison that was supposed to stop that pain, the old man had kept his promise, but now it seemed futile. Sango rushed to his side, but was stopped when he turned into her brother, Kohaku looking down at his hand as the Monk had been, but there was a puddle of blood around him. It was all going to pot as Sesshomaru let out a cry of rage when he found Rin's body at the feet of Koga, his mouth dribbling the red blood of her life, but Koga was on his knees as the pack members had died because of him looked down at him in rage, taunting him with their cries of betrayal.

The only ones that seemed unaffected were the pair of demons who smiled, pleased with the chaos before them. "I thought they hadn't eaten the fruit," Chimei-teki asked, his black eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"They didn't, but the orchard is still standing, its scents are releasing into the air," she said, waiting for a chance to snatch the woman that weilded too much power for them to deal with now as she seemed to be struggling to keep it tamped down with whatever she was seeing. "And soon we will leave them to their misery and allow them to become more succulent."


	22. Chapter 22

Kagome refused to listen to the ongoing battle of her mind and heart, both straining to aid and release her powers that she was holding down just enough to keep from purifying the male before her. Her eyes saw Naraku, but her heart called out to the Hanyou before her, knowing it wasn't Naraku but Inuyasha that stood before her. She had seen him, the fear in his eyes and the pain. She knew what he had seen because the last time that look had been in his eyes was when Kikyo had come back. Sure, she had been out for the first part of it, but she had seen it the second time the woman had shown up, when Kikyo had tried to take him to Hell with her and he had willingly surrendered to her. It had been a trick because when Kagome had yelled for him, crying for him he had nearly shoved the other Miko away to get to her and while she had been mad at him after the fact she knew that he had picked her in that moment. Even if he had gone back to the other woman on countless occasions, but she had known it was a struggle for him to choose between them and yet at that first moment of her cry he had come to her.

"I-Inuyasha," she whimpered, the fear of her mind trying to drag her down, after all it was only her mind that saw the monster before her because she held no fear save for Inuyasha's death or his leaving her for the other woman, but they hadn't picked that, but the male that was after her. Possibly they hoped that she would strike him down, but she didn't do it. She was stronger than that and then she heard the yell from Sesshomaru, but she couldn't see what he was looking at because only her fear was striking her down, not theirs. She could only see the pain on his face and the fact that he too was trying to fight back against whatever he was seeing while Koga was before him on his knees, but looking around him as if there were others around him. She had to break this hold the two of those demons had on them, but first she had to find them. "I don't know what you see, not really, but know that it is Kagome that stands before you." His eyes closed for a moment, as if he could hear her voice and she continued, "Ka-go-me. Not wench or bitch." When he opened his eyes they seemed to see her as the fear and pain replaced with relief as he drew toward her, but the scent of her fear still clung in the air.

"Kagome," he breathed, reaching for her and with little in the way of hesitation, even with the fear clouding her mind she listened to her heart, she touched his face with her cool fingers. She wasn't going to allow the illusion to drown her, to kill her or her friends.

"It's the fruit we ate," the Miko stated, but she still seemed unsure as to why the others who had not eaten the food were also affected until he sniffed the air and let out a whimper. She then got it, the reason that now clung to her nose and made him revert to the vile appearance of Naraku. There was something in this village that held the same threat as the fruit and she just had to find it, but when she attempted to move the Hanyou would not allow her as he stuck his nose near her neck and she could feel his hot breath warm her skin. She allowed him to hold her, to take in her scent as she did the same thing, but her face was in his silver hair even while it looked like Naraku's dark tresses. But now with that scent in her mind and heart she knew that it was her Hanyou holding her. Her Hanyou? He wasn't hers, though she yearned for it to be him that had marked her, the one that had claimed her as the sensation from the dream took over at the sudden wetness on her skin and she tensed for a second as her mind went back to that night. There were soft kisses left all over her skin, marks from his fanged mouth as he sucked on her skin, as if to draw her blood from her skin and into his mouth.

She felt the shame that came with each of these memories, the shame of allowing another to touch her and mark her, but then again the auras of her pups reminded her that they were there because of that and she couldn't hold that shame, not all of it anymore. Inuyasha pulled away from her, his mouth moving, but she could not hear his words. No, she still saw Naraku before her even as she tried to will his façade away. She wanted the illusion gone, but first she had to figure out what was causing it. Looking around she found Shippo and Rin off at the edge of the forest, neither one looking fearful now. Rin even appeared to be worried for the group before her, even when Kagome noted that her eyes fell upon Koga and his slouched form as he seemed to be sinking in shame and guilt. She needed to figure it out, needed to know how she could stop it and looking around once more she saw her other friends struggling with whatever stood before them. Whatever it was it effected both human and demon, both the strong and the weak, though she wouldn't consider any of them weak.

"You can look all you want, try to figure out how I am drawing you into this nightmare or you can just allow it to take you over, to embrace it," came a soft male voice laced with malice and lust. A finger touched her back, running it down her spine as a shiver of disgust slid along with it. She wanted to release some of her power, to burn that finger, but Inuyasha was too close and she was afraid she would hurt him as well. She couldn't do that, but he growled, or had he been growling since the other male appeared. "Ah, half breed, you too will know our touch when we sink our fangs into your flesh while you still breath, but you, you will not be able to fight us." The woman appeared behind him, smelling him.

"You don't smell like a half breed though, do you Hanyou?" she asked in a whisper and Kagome knew that he had transformed, even with his fang at his side he had transformed like he had before when she was in danger, but she still couldn't see him. "You smell so delicious, so like a long awaited treat that you can not wait to be ready for consumption." A cry escaped his lips as she thrust a blade into his body, just below where his heart was beating and his blood gushed out, darkening his fire-rat robes with his blood. She felt her body cry at the smell, howl as if part of it was dying, but she couldn't move...wouldn't move because she didn't want to hurt him, but she wanted to free him. Weirdly enough though it seemed that his blood was enough to cause the other two male demons to pause in their nightmares, but only for a second and she wondered. Could she wake them up with her blood combined with Inuyasha's and so she thrust her hand forward to impale it on the blade. She may lose the mobility of her hand, but it was a small sacrifice.

Her blood seemed to cause the most strangest thing to happen as a pink light seemed to spill out with her blood, her brown eyes watching it with a curious gaze. She felt the slight pinch of pain, but for some reason it felt tame, not at all what she had expected as she had been struck by an arrow when Kikyo had been after her, but this, this was bigger and yet it felt like nothing. Then everything changed in a split second as Inuyasha growled louder, his body shifting at the same time that the auras in her belly seemed to call out, mixing their golden red aura into her own pink one that was still spilling out. Sesshomaru turned from his rival, the one that was no longer bloody in his eyes as he turned toward her and Koga also seemed to come out of his own stupor as his eyes narrowed on the scene before him as Inuyasha thrust forward, his claws just inches from her face as he slammed his bared claws into the face of the male behind her. A cry from the evil demon's lips was reinforced with his sister's as the Hanyou pulled back from Kagome, releasing her hand from the blade's tip. A hole was in her palm and yet she still felt no pain, not even the pinch from earlier seemed to penetrate the calm of her nerves.

He elbowed back, knocking his body into the female who had impaled him, Koga rushing to grab her by her neck, his fingers tightening on her slender pale skin. Sesshomaru joined in on the fight as he broke the other demons arms as he slammed them behind the dark male. "What the fuck is affecting us, bastard?" he asked, his voice low, dangerous. The other male just sighed, as if pleased with the pain inflicted on himself, but looking at his sister he just smirked. Neither one said a word as Kagome moved from her spot between the two and headed to Sango, yanking on her friend as Shippo rushed forth to aid Miroku, but the Miko stopped him, still unsure as to what was causing the illusions. Even now her vision was seeing Naraku before her, and she tried to push it aside as she called for the other woman to look at her. Sango did, but her tears burst forth when she saw her. The slayer was seeing her father before her, shaking her, calling her name and she couldn't take it, the pain of losing her family breaking her, but the words that escaped those lips were not of her father, no, they were familiar, but the voice didn't reflect those words.

"Sango, we must help Miroku!" her father said, worry in his tone. Her father didn't know of her intended, no, he had died long before that and even though the male before her looked like her dad and had the same wounds on his body she knew it couldn't be him, but then, she turned toward where her brother sat, crying. Talking about how he would kill them all if they got to close, to close to his curse and those words reinforced her thinking that her father and her brother were not before her. "He's hurting, his hand," her father said. Sango crouched down to look in her brother's eyes and knew that this wasn't him, yes, he had attacked them with that very hand, but the way he was holding it, complaining of the winds that were swallowing him she knew it wasn't and she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips. He tensed, his eyes meeting hers and she could see the amethyst orbs that flickered before her for a second. It was Miroku and then it wasn't in another flash. All of them were struggling with the illusions and while they had the culprits there was a worry that it wouldn't go away with their deaths.

"Wench?" Inuyasha asked, calling out as he refused to look at her, Kikyo still before him even if he could only smell Kagome in that form. "It has to be in the air, that is the only thing that makes sense if I nor these two ate that fruit." Kagome had to agree, but where was it coming from and how wo- She grinned as she thought of a way to clear the air and with summoning her power upward she produced a barrier, its size growing to move over all of them, the pair of demons screaming at the power that washed over them, burning them. As the air popped and sizzled the illusions began to fade, but it didn't dissipate fast enough as the woman, Koe, shoved herself forward, her neck sprouting a black ooze as she removed her neck from Koga's grasp. More of the black substance leaked out as some of her skin tore, hanging loosely from her body. She whimpered at the purification, but with another gasp of pain she managed to reach her brother, all of them watching as she powered up and blasted Sesshomaru back with a powerful wave of dark energy. Kagome shielded her eyes as she was also pushed back, her hands covering her stomach as if to shield her children.

"We aren't like those other pitiful demons that Naraku has employed," she spat at them before disappearing in a flash of darkness, appearing on the other side of the barrier, their skin still burning lightly from the initial exposure. "And we will not be dealt with so easily." With a snap of his fingers her brother allowed a torrential rain to fall, ice mixed in all of it falling into the barrier, the humans shaking at the sudden chill as Kagome tried to maintain her barrier. She shivered, her clothing though like Inuyasha's was not a fire-rat robe and so it was soon soaked, clinging to her small form.

"And we will get you, just wait, Miko," Chimei-teki. "Even if we must wait in our own little storm until you crack, your urge to save the others more powerful than your own survival." Then it seemed that they noticed that some treats were missing from their own little candy bowl. "It appears that some of your little group are missing," he said licking his lips with his next words pointed at the older dog demon. "Your little human and that toad are missing, though I do not love frog meat human meat is all the more tasty." A growl resonated from the demon lord's throat, Kagome quick to try and calm him even as it came out a stuttering mess from the cold. Inuyasha moved to take of his top, and she shook her head. He would need it more than she would, no, her concern was for the three people and the dragon that were still outside her barrier.

"In-Inuyasha, g-get ready," she murmured as he tried to move in some way to cover her if she wasn't going to let him put his clothing on her. He nodded, as his own golden orbs searched the area for the kitsune, the human and the toad. What he saw had him smirking with pride. Shippo was standing in front of Rin, his green eyes narrowing at Koe who had spotted him first. Jaken was to his side, almost behind him, but still protecting the small girl as his master had ordered him and Ah-Un was wrapped around them with eyes watching the forest directly behind them. Kagome was also proud at the little fox, but she knew that they would be no match should one of the creatures in front of them finally move as their skin healed slowly. Closing her eyes she pulled at more power, trying to keep the barrier over them while erecting one around the other small group just a little over twenty feet from them. It was a draining task in the cold and she wished that she could shield them all from the chilly rain, but she had little strength left in the cold air that blew over her wet form. Sango rushed to keep Sesshomaru bound to their space, not a fear that he would get hurt as she knew he was powerful, after all his father had been a very powerful demon himself, but for the fact that Kagome was trying to keep them all safe. Her friend would do anything for those that she cared about and right now that wasn't just them, but the kids and the small demon with them. She wouldn't allow them to be harmed as was evident when another barrier appeared over them. "N-Now!"

The Hanyou seemed to know what she meant as he rushed forward, the barrier allowing him to run to the aid of the children, the two demons rushing to slash at him, his blade coming up to thwart them, the sound echoing in the pouring rain as Sesshomaru rushed to aid his brother in protecting his ward. His hand shoved thru the male's newly healed body, black blood spurting as the male turned in his grasp, a hole in his gut as he slashed his own claws at the demon lord. Unfortunately for the evil demon, Sesshomaru had inflicted him with his poison, the green liquid blending in with the black substance of life that now was creating a puddle beneath him, Koe screaming as she shoved off of Inuyasha's blade to aid her brother who could no longer heal his wound as the acid of the demon lord ate his flesh, the smell causing Kagome to gag. It was too much for her, being tired from the use of so much power, the rain that chilled her to the bone and now the scent of his deteriorating skin that she released her barrier as she fell to her knees, Miroku rushing to her side as Inuyasha turned to look at her. He wanted to go back to her, but looking into her tired gaze that still held a bit of fire he knew that she would be upset so he rushed to protect the others, Sango rushing to thrust her boomerang into the gaping hole of Chimei-teki while Sesshomaru rushed to attack the woman slashing angrily at him as the rain that had once been a hinderance began to weaken, the dark haired male gasping as his body was torn in two.

He had been so sure that he would win, but now he wished that Naraku, the one that had hired them, were there now so he could curse him and kill him. He hadn't gotten what he wanted. Power and the jewel that would enable him and his sister to become immortal with a long life and everlasting power. Now he would die for thinking that he was too powerful to be taken down by humans and a half breed. He had known that the dog demon was strong, but he thought that if he had the small child as a bargaining chip in this fight that he would have had a chance to take him down a notch, hell the male had been torn by the images of what he had given them that he was sure he would fall. No, that Miko, she had taken his illusions and had beaten them with the Hanyou at her side. All her friends had been at her side, never questioning her appearance in their nightmares. "Get out of here, sister!" he called as he shoved her away from him and the battle. She wouldn't listen thrusting her sword outward as she pushed her darkness into the blade that found a home in Sesshomaru's shoulder. She may not be able to win, but she wouldn't let them come out unscathed. Inuyasha growled as he thrust his own sword at her, but his brother was just as fast and as the blade entered her stomach, his brother shoved his fist, still glowing green into her chest, her beating heart being squeezed with his poison.

"Whatever made you think that you could defeat me?!" he bellowed, digging his claws into her beating organ. She managed to chuckle, a dark sound that gurgled a bit as blood as black as night oozed from her mouth.

"We have defeated you, even as we die you will not be rid of us," she said as her brother began to dissolve into a mist, the dark mist swirling around them and heading toward his sister, her own form shifting as she allowed the poison to flush thru her body faster before she followed her brother and became a mist that intermingled with the almost coal black of Chimei-teki's before they seemed to explode and disappear. The air was soon clear, the skies clearing to allow the sun to rise, but even as the silence fell over the group another sound was heard, Miroku calling out to the Hanyou as the other dog demon rushed to is ward's side, the kitsune still standing before her as his body began to shake.

"Kagome," a voice called, the raven haired male shaking the unconscious form of Kagome. Her eyes opened as Inuyasha came closer, smiling weakly when she realized that all was okay.

"I'm fine, just a little worn out and maybe a little cold." He sighed as he took her from Miroku and pulled her against his own warm body as the villagers crept out from their hiding places, all of their eyes full of confusion as they watched the group for a moment.

"Are you all going to gawk at us or are you going to give a damn pregnant woman a place to get dry?!" he growled as he watched her eyes fall shut in a peaceful sleep, the illusion of Kikyo replaced with the one of a woman he would do anything to keep by his side. He loved her and now that he could see that same love in her eyes, a love for who he was, he knew it would be alright. He could get past this fear that she wouldn't want him and that she held another male's babies in her belly. He would do it for her, if she would have him.


	23. Chapter 23

The next morning found the Miko in better spirits, her mind was clear and her morning sickness seemed to be at an end, finally, but something was still off and she couldn't name it. Everyone was feeling better, the effects of the fruit finally worn off and the cause of the illusions being the trees that bore that same fruit had assisted in the strange happenings of yesterday. Rin was more comfortable around Koga again, Miroku was no longer looking at his hand as if it were the curse it really was and Sango was no longer plagued with the images of her dead father or her brother. They still had to yet find the young slayer, but she was sure he was alive because if Naraku really wanted to torment the woman he would have had the real body of Kohaku. Kagome was sure of it, but even with everything seeming normal she still felt something was in the air, something was waiting for them. Naraku was of course waiting for them, but his castle hadn't been spotted yet, no one in this village knew what they were talking about and had seemed to be under some sort of control as well. Minako was okay now too, their control was gone and she seemed to be apologetic when they approached her, but she, like the others, didn't remember any of it, not the monster that had been one of their own and not of the two demons whom had been living in their small homestead.

No, no one even knew where the orchard had come from as there hadn't been one before, just their fields. While she had noted their seemingly skittish looks she also noted the looks of disgust when they looked at her group, as if they weren't just strange, but it was taboo. Still, they had given them a place to rest and food for them to eat. She was sad that there was no way for her to go home, not only to see her family, but to stock up for their group. They would need more food to take with them and when they finally did get ready to head back on the road she had been surprised when Minako approached them with a few of the villagers in tow. "I just wanted to thank you, for taking care of the demons," the small girl said, turning to the two men behind her, both of them looking wary when all three males shot them withering looks. Inuyasha and Koga didn't like the looks that Kagome was receiving as he had informed them the day before of the Miko's condition, but the Hanyou had wanted her to be taken care of so she wouldn't get sick. The pups weren't his, but he still felt affection for them because they were hers and Kagome meant the world to him. He would have to find time to talk to her, but that could wait as the men before them handed them two large bags of rice, keeping as far as they could from the group itself as they placed them before them and backed up. Minako shook her head, refusing to act like them ad she said, "I'm sorry for their behavior. I know that none of us can remember what happened yesterday, but one of our men is missing which leads me to believe that he was the monster you spoke of and the fact that we found a few body parts also lends truth to your words so I felt that we should thank you in the only way we can."

This girl was so young and yet she was much more open than the others in her village and for that the group was thankful, well, some of them as Kagome thanked her again and Miroku with Inuyasha grabbed the medium sized bags of rice. Miroku thanked them, though he too was displeased with their attitudes before they headed off, Sesshomaru walked out last with Ah-Un, Rin, Shippo, and Jaken with him. Koga, Sango and Miroku walked in the front and Kagome with Inuyasha walked in the middle, Kagome walking alongside him as he kept his eyes on her and around them. He wasn't taking any chances with her, her condition was not too far along to give her any trouble, but he was worried that anything could change that, a battle or even a stumbled could do her ill will. He wouldn't allow it, but after about thirty minutes of his sidelong glances she said to him, "Okay, I am getting tired of this." Sango shot her a look to find that she wasn't just addressing him, but the others as well. "I am not going to break and while I appreciate all the slick ways that you all try to protect me, I am able to take care of myself." The slayer managed to look ashamed as she had also been in this as well, all except for Sesshomaru had been very protective, though he had been watching her closely. He knew no more than any of them when it came to human pregnancies and even demon ones weren't on his radar so for him this was a learning experience. After all, he too planned to have pups of his own with a human, the one that followed behind him was more than just a human. She was the closest to someone he loved, though he wouldn't admit it to any of the others much less say it to the girl herself. While she wasn't old enough at the age of 10 to be his mate, it was only a matter of time before she became mature enough for him to claim.

"Miko," he said, all of them still walking slowly, his golden gaze narrowed. "As you have pointed out, you are not weak, but no one in this circle has ever had to experience that condition you have found yourself in, nor do you even know what your own limitations are in said conditions." She flushed at this, anger welling up again. It was like this all the time, her emotions were fleeting and annoying. Before she could fire off a retort his eyes narrowed further and while she did not fear him, she submitted to his words, waiting and listening. "And there are limitations that shall happen before you birth the pups. Know this and just be glad that you aren't dealing with this alone." Inuyasha was shocked to say the least at his brothers, strangely, kind words. She wasn't fragile, but she would be soon. Those pups would make her more clumsy than she had been before and fighting wouldn't be as easy as she thought. He hadn't seen too many pregnant women, but in his village, the one that he had grown up with his mother until she had died, he had witnessed one woman before she was to give birth. She had been bulky, her small form rounded with her unborn child that had caused her to have little movement and freedom because of her state. He knew that until she reached that stage that she should be fine, after all in his time women continued to work in the fields or continued to keep their home up, but Kagome, she was a fighter and she wouldn't want to stop just because of her pups... still, she wasn't going to be fighting when she filled out more. Not if he could stop it and he would with the aid of Sango and Miroku. He knew they had his back as they had also seemed wary of her condition.

They didn't doubt her, but his demon demanded he protect her and he wasn't one to ignore her needs, even when he hated that she had to go to her side at times. He had hurt her more times than he cared to even count, but he would make it up to her. It had never been his intent to hurt her, but then again he had been in his own Hell, wanting her, but still hurt from all his own life of taunts and jeers. "Okay," she said. "You are right, but so am I. I am not a weakling and while later in my pregnancy I will concede that I am not going to be able to fight I am not at that point yet, so stop acting like I'm going to break." And that was that. Kagome had said her piece and Sesshomaru had backed the others in their unspoken worries. "No, let's get him before I reach that point." Hurrying along, the rest of them following her pace.

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Naraku stood outside his castle looking pleased as he watched the land around him as it died. They all did when he was around, his evil taking out all the sunshine from the sides above him and the land dying and wilting with every second that passed. He enjoyed the death of all that happiness and life that tried to bleaken his mood. He hated life and the happiness of those around him. He wasn't happy unless others were miserable which is why the pair of demons had been something he had looked for. He had wanted to witness the misery that they had up their sleeves, to watch as his enemies fought each other because of that emotion, but they had failed... or so it seemed since he still could feel the aura of the pair, could scent them out on the wind as another scent twisted his lips in enjoyment. She was coming to him, her scent stronger than it had been days ago when she had been at the village that the pair had used to bring them pain. He wondered what those two had planed now that they didn't have their bodies. Would it be beautiful like the distress he had witnessed just days ago? Would they writher and fall to their knees in anguish? Would he get to kill them while they were fighting against that pain?

Licking his lips he envisioned it, the suffering of his growing threat. They would no longer be a threat when he was done with them. Now he just needed to send another demon to their path, to weaken them further. He knew just the ones to do that. Yes, even when the other demons had been tormenting them with their fears he had found a back up plan since he still didn't trust whatever he took from his own body. He had a plan for his heart, but that plan would have to wait until he had his treasure, his prize. He would place his heart in her body, attach it to her pup, one of them would bear his evil, would taint her and the others as it pulsed in her belly. Ah, the day would soon be upon them when he would violate her, further tainting her. He could see that the darkness he had tried to instill in her had weakened, but he wouldn't let it disappear. No, he would have to push it further, get her to forget all the sickeningly sweet emotions of her soul, of her friends. He would have to put her in a submissive position that could only be accomplished with her fear or her hate. She would come to fear her friends' pain or hate them enough to leave their side and the fear would be easier in the long run.

"Ah, you girls are right on time," he said, turning to look behind him before returning his attention back to the barren wasteland before him. Five woman, each of a different color of the rainbow stepped out of the shadows. They had eyes that were black, no white in their eyes, almost like black eyed children that haunted the nations of the world in appearance. They weren't children though. No, they were full bodied women that wore clothing that barely covered their slender forms, but he didn't care about their appearance. No, he cared about what they could do, the damage they could inflict on his opponents.

"You have summoned us," the green skinned one stated, looking bored as she and her sisters stared at him, as if they were trying to figure out who he was to call them forth. "You, a half breed wishes for us to do your bidding and yet the only thing you promise is a part of the jewel, nothing that can be shared among us." It wasn't a query, no, she was pointing out his promise to them and their distaste for what he was was just as evident in her words.

"Oh, you could shatter it again," he said, sounding bored with their dislike of his status, but he was powerful and could crush them instead of using them. "The Miko herself did it so long ago, but I can also promise you their blood or their skin." The pink one at the end scoffed.

"And what would we do with that blood or skin? Nothing. It has no use for us," she stated arrogantly. "No, we will destroy them for that half of the Shikon no Tama, but we will come for your half unless you are willing to part with it more willingly. That might keep you alive." He snarled at her words. No, he would not be willing to give up his half, not that he was going to be giving them the other half either, but he had to make it appear so.

"I will not be relinquishing my half, but know this, bitches, I am more than powerful enough to tear you into food for my demons that await my orders or I could just allow that other half breed to slice you up with his fang. And he will come for you even if you didn't threaten his woman." Another snort from the pink one. He had yet to learn their names, though they were called the Zetsubō no shōjo or otherwise known as the Girls of Despair. They didn't care who you were or what you had. They killed you if you were a human and being a half breed was just as bad. They hated what they strongly saw as taboo or even pure since most demons were darkness personified. He wasn't pure enough for them to want his blood, but his human half was enough to anger them. He wasn't sure what they were, their bodies while more human in profile, their body was covered in short hair and they had markings just below their hips on their upper legs and there were also markings on their foreheads. They were strange, but like the other two demons that had taken on the group their torture was mental. They also could attack physically, their powers giving them an edge that the other two didn't have.

"What do you mean?" the blue one inquired. "Why would we be bothered by such a disgusting creature?"

"Well, seeing as he follows a rather powerful Miko around like the lost mutt he is, they are travelling with what you might like to destroy before they come across you later as I know how much you would despise their kind. It is only a matter of time." Now their eyes narrowed at his words, wondering about this group that should draw them to their deaths should they cross paths. "They have a demon slayer, a monk, and more humans that travel with them on top of the Miko and the Hanyou." All these were targets for these demons, their need to rid the world of humans keeping them on task until all the humans in their area were gone, but these people were not on their land, not yet. But they would be when they grew closer to this castle. They didn't want this castle here either, but for now they would go after the group and destroy those that dare come onto their lands. They would do it as it was what they did and not for the male sneering at them. He would be next, after they had the piece of the jewel that the Miko was carrying.

Turning around they disappeared into the darkness, Naraku chuckling at their anger, their distaste for him and the darkness he was bringing to their land. He would destroy them though, once they came back for his head. "It is so hard to find good help these days."

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Kagome felt them before they appeared, the ground shaking beneath her before opening up to swallow her, but Inuyasha was quicker, his swift removal of her body from the now gaping hole where a woman stood staring up at them with a smirk. Before he could react though her hand changed to vines, twisting up and into his gut as he thrust the Miko further from him, Sango rushing to her side as another one appeared before them. This one rushed at the two headed dragon that held Rin and Shippo, Sesshomaru attacking her with his sword before she could reach them, but she didn't allow him to strike her as she pushed back, her body twisting to evade him at every thrust of his blade. While he was distracted another one, the orange one, appeared behind him, her arms changing like her sisters as she wrapped herself around him, the one that he had been after smirking as she joined her sister in wrapping him with her vines that shimmered with electricity.

Kagome cried out as the blood from Inuyasha's wound dripped down the green one's vines, she wanted to help, her fingers gripping at the arrows in the quiver on her back as the mayhem ensued. While Sesshomaru was being detained and shocked by two of them another one appeared before Miroku, her eyes narrowing at him when he pulled out a sutra in preparation for her attack. She merely smirked when he too found himself bound to another one, a blue one that clutched her to his chest before pulling him into the solid ground below them. Sango now screamed out, watching her fiancé disappear from her sight with a cry of pain, the earth tearing at his skin. All of them stood there as the women laughed in joy of the impending destruction of the Hanyou, the demon lord and the monk. Both women looked at Rin still holding onto Ah-Un as Shippo tried to be brave, his green eyes watching as Sesshomaru tried to rid himself of the two females still shocking him, but finding that they were not just shocking him, they were pulling his aura into them. Taking his energy so that he wouldn't be able to fight them. Rin wanted to cry out, but believed that he could remove himself from the two creatures.

They needed to help them, but Kagome was afraid that if she struck one of them while they were holding onto her friends, the demons at least, could end up doing more harm than good. Sango shoved her back as she moved with her boomerang to fight the one that held Miroku below the surface, the hole still open enough that she could see into it, the eyes that stared back at her gleaming with malice. Kagome readied her bow and arrow, keeping it in front of her with a point of power shimmering at the tip of the arrowhead. Inuyasha thrust back, his claws trying to tear at the woman holding him, to get back to Kagome when his body received a burst of fire. He howled in frustration and pain as his skin that wasn't covered by the fire-rat burned and smoked, his hair smoking as they also caught fire. Kagome released her arrow, hoping and knowing somewhere that she was wrong, that her power wouldn't hurt those that she loved. Koga swiped at the one holding Sesshomaru, tearing into her back and eliciting a cry of both anger and pain as blood trickled down her back before the final woman appeared, thrusting her hands into his back and thru it.

The arrow that she had released found a mark on the one behind the dog demon, rippling with power as it purified the woman, her screams tearing into the air, louder than the cries of those they held captive. Her body withered, her vines retracting as she tried to pull the arrow out. Kagome watched all of this, pulling another arrow out, but before she could release it a foul smell hit her nose, the hair on her neck raising in warning just moments before she found herself being yanked into the darkness of a portal something shoved into her back, tearing at her. Had there been another one? She thought that five was bad, but if there were more than all of them were in danger.

"Kaaaagome!" came a war cry, a cry of anger from the lips of Inuyasha as he finally managed to tear the vines of the one that held him, the one that had been struck by Kagome's arrow finally disappearing to the rage of her sisters who now growled in anger, but could do nothing as the one that had struck their sister down was gone. Inuyasha pulled out his blade, the fang appearing like a diamond as he thrust it at her, tearing into her skin like she were nothing but paper. Another one bit the dust leaving just three to fight them. The one that had been holding onto Miroku released him as her vines shot up to shatter the boomerang of Sango, shoving the woman back with the force of her blow, but that didn't stop the slayer as she pulled out her blade that she kept just incase she was unable to use her boomerang.

She sliced at those vines, trying to get close enough to see if the monk were okay while Inuyasha assisted his brother in removing the other woman clinging to him, but her body also seemed to erupt in fire, the flames searing the older male's skin. He still refused to cry out as he managed to free a hand to wrap it around the demon's throat. She smirked at him as his poison tore into her skin, causing it to discolor from the pink tint that it was to a more magenta like color. When she realized that he wasn't going to give her the pain she wanted to see on his face she tried to remove herself from him, but he wouldn't release her. His clothing was on fire, but he still clung to her, tighter and tighter as her screams stuck in her throat, the very part of her body that was melting and oozing.

"He didn't tell us just how powerful you were," the yellow one stated as she ripped her hands out of Koga's back, the blood on her fingers joining the gore on the grass below them. Before she could say more Koga had turned toward her, his body sagging from the injury, but he was able to reach out toward her even if he wasn't able to grasp her. Shippo jumped onto her though, his body lighting up in fire, the green flames of his fox fire burning her or at least appearing to as she screeched, trying to grasp at him. He was clinging to her head, his fingers wrapped in the golden strands as her claws dug into his small body, but he refused to let her pull him off as Inuyasha sliced her in half. He released her, running back to join the human child covering her eyes in fright. When the one in Sesshomaru's toxic hold finally died, her body fading from existence he knew there was one more, the one that Sango was trying to get at, but even if they killed her there was still the fact that the Miko was in danger and they needed to get to her. Inuyasha turned his attention to the fight between the slayer and the last one in his way, his blade sinking into the ground as the demonic aura of his sword tore into the ground, finding its target and rippling thru her flesh as Sango shoved her way into the hole to grab the still alive monk, his body limp and torn. In the end they all lay there, trying to catch their breath and knowing they had no time to wait, to heal with Kagome in Naraku's hands.

"When I get a hold of that fucking slimly bastard," was all Inuyasha said before turning to check on his pack, his friends in dire need of medical attention. He needed to get them better before he could go after his Miko. She would not allow him to forsake them even if he wanted to rush off after her. Clenching his fists, his eyes closing for a moment as he sent on thought to her, Please, wait for me, Kagome.


	24. Chapter 24

Kagome awoke to find herself in a darkened room, though it was the size of a closet she found that it wasn't empty. It was dim, but she could see to the other side of the room, where on the wall were chains and bones that still hung to them. One was completely gone while the other still held skin on part of it, its eyes were open, the red orbs familiar to her. Kagura? Was that what happened to the wind demoness? She was immortal though, without fail she had managed to live through each battle, every wound inflicted on her so why was she here? Why was her body rotting away, her clothing sagging against her frail body? Tearing her eyes from the dead body she looked around, taking note of her surroundings. There was no window in the small space and the door was wooden with a small barred window that was just big enough for a face to fit in. There was no bed or any furniture, but a sudden movement from outside the door drew her attention.

"Ah, little Miko, are you becoming reacquainted with your friend, the traitor that I drew from my very flesh?" he asked with a dark chuckle, though his tone was one of anger, disgust for the one whom they had fought too many times to count. What did he mean by traitor? "She never did like me, but she had no choice but fight for me since I held the one thing she yearned for."

"Naraku," Kagome hissed, anger at the fact that she was in his clutches, but fear at what he planned to do with her still tinting her tone. He chuckled again.

"Yes, it is me Miko," he said. "In the flesh." He seemed to find himself funny because now he laughed, as if he were telling an inside joke, though he was in a strange way. He had always appeared to them as a fake, a wooden doll with a strand of his dark hair and yet because she was on the other side of door he felt it safe to call upon her. Her power flickered around her as she felt her anger grow. She hated the male after all, his presence always spelling despair for her or someone she loved. It was the reason she was still here, still on this side instead of with her family. That, and Inuyasha. He was the light at the end of the dark tunnel that Naraku presented with his existence. Still, she hated him. "Ah ah ah, no Miko powers on my land," he said, her body shaking with pain as her power drained away. She whimpered, biting her bottom lip to keep it hidden from his ears. Her body convulsed with the dampening of her powers. Even her children remained dormant, their auras dim. "I would be careful with allowing your powers to flow. The spell on this cell, this castle in general really, is too dark for your powers to be used without a punishment on your own body... including those half breeds in your stomach." She threw a glower at him, keeping her power down with a slight struggle. She and her babies wanted to deal away with the dark Hanyou, but with the spell it would be dangerous, even fatal to them since they were unable to really protect themselves against his darkness.

"What the fuck do you want with me?" she asked, her gaze hardening as she leveled herself with him. His own eyes reflected glee at her question, as if it were what he had been waiting for.

"Little Miko, you are going to bear me more spawns, and those babies in your belly will be fighting for me against your friends," was his response. "Of course one of them will house my heart, keeping your friends from having a fair chance against them." He paused to let it sink in. Kagome would be used as a breeding mare, allowing for more powerful demons to be brought forth, her own babies to be used as disposable pawns for him. "Though, sadly, they will be nothing compared to those babies in your womb now. Their father is a powerful enough adversary, though he won't be much of a match against his own spawn."

"I won't allow you to use my babies as a tool!" she spat. "And I sure as hell won't allow you to use me as a damn incubator!" He tsked at her, a smirk twisting his features. "Inuyasha will come for me! My friends will kill you and I will be right there at their side when you lay there dying a miserable death that will be karma for those who died at your hands!" He didn't say a word for a moment, but he didn't stop smirking.

"Such language, Miko," he said softly. "Seems that even you aren't completely pure with such vulgar words, though I am sure you aren't as pure as everyone seems to think. You act as if I were no better than you, deserving nothing but a merciless death for killing humans and demons alike, for selling my soul to demons, but..." he fell silent, his smirk growing. "You aren't any better than me, Kagome." His voice saying her name made a shudder crawl up her spine, his tone one of pure lust making her wish she could die right there. She would do it if it came down to it. She would never allow her children or herself to be used to harm her friends, to kill Inuyasha.

"I'm no better than anyone else, but I sure as hell am not a monster like you, Naraku!" she cried out, her power trying again to break free, her clawed fingers breaking the skin of her palms as she tried to fight against its release. She wouldn't chance her babies lives just to strike out at him.

"But you are," he responded, evenly. "You were so glad that Kikyo was killed, I know you are even now glad that she is gone. No more secret meetings with Inuyasha for her, no just a nice warm time in Hell for that Miko." He laughed again. "And, I know that look Miko, so I should warn you," he said, noting that glare that she was sending his way, the look that she would fight to her death. "It was the same look as Kagura, a look of such determination, even if she had to die she would not serve me any longer. That is why she was in those chains, awaiting her death and enjoying no freedom save for having her heart back." When she didn't respond to his information he continued. "I will do the same to you, but you will live and those pups shall be mine, after all, their father will come for them and your mate shall come for you." With that he was gone, leaving her to think about his words.

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The gang lay there in the fading light, Sesshomaru checking on his ward before going off to hunt for food while Shippo tended to Miroku's wounds and Sango worked on getting a fire started, her weapon laying on the ground with a hole on one side where the creatures that had battled them only hours before had left their mark. She sighed after getting the fire started, her eyes watering slightly at the sight of her unwieldable weapon before flickering over to her fallen fiancé. He was no worse for wear, though his skin was shredded and his clothing would need mending. With a sad smile she headed over to Kagome's bag, a tear falling for her friend.

"We'll get her back, Sango," Inuyasha stated, moving to her side to grab the pot that laid on the top of the contents in the bag. "I will not allow her to be harmed." She nodded, knowing that even with all the heartache her friend had suffered at his careless actions regarding the dead Miko that he cared about Kagome, loved her even if he never admitted it. He would need to, after all she had pushed her friend into doing the same thing. Even then, Kagome hadn't had a chance and if they didn't get to her in time it would never be revealed to him. Giving herself a mental head shake she forced those dark thoughts from her mind, but unlike the times before that image stuck in her mind, refusing to leave her imagination.

"Will we?" she inquired, her hand coming to her mouth at the question. Rin stared at her from her space by the fire, worry in her brown orbs. Even Miroku and Shippo looked surprised at her words. The male next to her growled in warning, his eyes narrowing at her. "I-I don't know why I said that," she muttered. "I know you will, after all we would all be dead if you hadn't been with us." Sighing he turned from her, wandering off to the nearby stream that flowed by the campsite. The monk struggled to stand, the Kitsune done with his aid on the male, moving to stand before his bride-to-be. She refused to look at him, shame reflected in her posture, but he didn't allow her to keep her eyes on the ground below their feet. He took one hand, his fingers grasping hers tightly while his other hand, the beads clicking together as he touched her chin. "I really didn't mean it."

"Sango," he said, his voice warm with understanding, waiting until she looked up into his amethyst eyes. "He knows that. We know that you would never think that way about any of us, let alone Kagome or Inuyasha. They are the strongest among us, save for Sesshomaru." Koga, who had been off to the side leaning against a tree and silent while this all had transpired spoke up.

"That mutt? He is weak, allowing Kagome to be taken like that and now we ha-" he was cut off as a hand smacked him in the chest, his blue eyes looking down to find the human ward of the dog demon. He raised a brow at her narrowed eyes.

"Inuyasha is my Lord's brother and is not weak!" she yelled, her body tense as she eyed him. "You weren't there to protect her either!" The wolf flinched at her words. They were true, he had failed in protecting the woman he had vowed his affections for. He hadn't been able to sniff the monster out in the shadows and now she was gone because of it. None of them had been there to aid her.

"The Miko would shut you all up," came a cold voice. Rin found golden eyes looking at her. "Even you, child." She looked down at her feet in shame. Sesshomaru held out a large boar, Sango coming over to skin it. Miroku watched the other male, Inuyasha coming out from the woods with a pan full of water. He said nothing and Miroku knew that his friend was in deep thought, probably worried about Kagome and what Naraku was doing to her. And Sango wasn't to blame for that, though he knew her words had hit home the Hanyou's own fears. "I doubt she would want her friends to think so little of themselves." Still Inuyasha said nothing as he set the small pot on the fire before settling down by it.

"You're right," he finally said. "And even with the fact we can not fight him now, she will not allow anything to happen to her, not with her pups to think of." Miroku was right about one thing. It was his worry, but it wasn't for the fact that he was assuming. He knew Kagome well enough to know that she would do whatever she needed to do to protect her unborn children, including sacrificing herself to do it and that was his worry. Naraku could never break her and the evil bastard knew it, but he would use those babies to do it. Force her to bend to his will just to keep those pups and them alive. Naraku would use her love, her pure feelings for his dark uses and while Kagome would submit for a moment, allowing them time to get to her or to get safe because she knew they wouldn't abandon her, she would ultimately take herself out of the pawn position. Out of it all if it could save them and he couldn't allow that. We need her! His demon was very possessive of the Miko, then again, he himself wanted her, had claimed her even if he hadn't marked her. As he was thinking of the Miko he felt a pain crawl over his skin, a pain that centered around his heart and like a ripple of water undulated outward.

"You okay?" Sango inquired, glad that he wasn't still mad at her because she would have to ask something of him that she felt would really make him upset. He blinked, his eyes focusing on her and nodded. "Um, Inuyasha, I need to go back to my village." He nodded again and she was floored. He was acting so mature! Had he heard what she had said or was he still spacing out? "Did you hear me?"

"Yes, Sango, I heard you, okay!" he snapped, his emotions jumping in a blink of an eye. "Go repair your weapon, but hurry the hell up!" Turning from her he yanked a ramen container out, throwing water into it as the slayer finished skinning the meat before cutting into it to cook portions of it while Sesshomaru and the other demons in the group, minus Shippo, ate it raw. The silence seemed to settle around them, though it wasn't awkward, more like everyone was off in their own world and didn't feel like talking at that moment. "I'll be out scouting the area," the Hanyou said as he tossed his cup into the fire without looking at any of them.

"I'll go with you," Koga said, taking another piece of the boar before following the irritated male. For once Inuyasha didn't snap at him, nor did he acknowledge him as he disappeared into the trees with the wolf close behind him as he took the dirt path. Rin sighed as she looked around the group. She had only been around them for a few weeks and before that she had little contact with them unless Sesshomaru came across them. Yet, now, she could see the innerworkings of the group and the fact that Kagome seemed to hold them together and without her they still hung together, but tempers seemed to rise or was it because the Miko was in danger. After all, she hadn't been with the group when they had joined and the same thing seemed to transpire. They seemed out of sorts.

"Rin, get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow," the dog demon stated as he turned toward the forest in the opposite direction as his brother. With a smile at her Lord she moved to join the others at the fire. Jaken stood off to the side with Ah-Un, both close enough if they needed to flee or fight, but far enough that he didn't have to deal with the group itself. Miroku pulled out Kagome's sleeping bag and after showing Rin how it worked allowed her to get comfortable while Sango talked to Kirara about their travel plans. He wanted to go with her, but knew it would be faster for her to go alone this time, not that he was in any condition to protect her if it came down to that.

"Heading off now?" he asked her, her back turned to him as she talked to the demon cat. She nodded, though she still didn't meet his gaze. "Sango, don't be upset, not with your slip of the tongue or even Kagome. I know you're upset, but you need to get your weapon done and get back so we can get her back." She sighed, and turned to him before pulling him into a hug. He had read her like a book, then again he always could. Agreeing with him would be simpler than getting into it with him over something that she couldn't control. She was a woman and she was a human one at that. Not that she couldn't act like it didn't matter to her when it came to the battlefield, but still, she wasn't around someone she couldn't show her inner emotions. No, she could trust him with those feelings because he wouldn't look down on her. He never had, like Kagome he had understood the loss of her family, but unlike Kagome she knew why he did... he did lose his father at a young age, actually seeing the death of his parent like she had.

"I should be back by later afternoon if I can get it done without interference from any demons or even humans," she remarked before giving him a quick peck on the lips and jumping on Kirara afterward. "Be careful." And with that she was off, leaving Miroku to his own thoughts about their situation. Naraku had never successfully taken one of their people for more than a few hours at most, Kagome had been the captive then too. It made sense. Naraku was weak and with someone like Kagome around to purify him he had to get rid of her or taint her so she had no power. He could find that a chore and the monk hoped that he didn't just rid himself of her when she failed to bow to him. She was a mountain and a sapling at the same time. She was strong when it came to protecting others, but would put herself in their place with just a little bit of force.

I hope she knows that if something should happen to her that Inuyasha would wither away, even with Naraku out there to do more harm. It was true, after all even with them to stand by him, the Hanyou only fought better when Kagome was by his side. He felt a surge to fight harder when her life was on the line and this would prove to be no different. Even without her here, he would fight harder to get her back. Which will make him even more of an asshole until she is returned. Chuckling he headed back over to the fire, getting comfortable on the hard ground, his eyes watching those around his campsite until his own eyes grew heavy with sleep.

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Inuyasha stalked thru the forest, paying little mind to the wolf that walked behind him, his mind only on the missing female of his pack and what could be happening to her. It also brought to mind the fact that since her mark and pregnancy had been revealed, his own action. He hadn't been himself since that moment. Lashing out at her, anger and disbelief at her actions, that she would hide it from him of all people. She hadn't lied about things before, well, not big things and being claimed was a pretty big thing to a demon like him. Did she not understand that or had she really not known that she had been claimed? He could see back to that moment that he had confronted her and it revealed what he had been too upset to see at that moment.

"I smell different?"

He could hear the confusion in her voice, even now several weeks later, the memory infecting his brain.

"Yeah, I can't tell what that other scent is, but my mama smelled like that before she gave me a new brother or sister,"

Her pale face, the fear and disbelief in her gaze as she listened to the small kitsune's words. She hadn't know, she hadn't known... It repeated itself in his mind, his heart clenching as he realized his own feelings at that moment, the way he had talked to her without any regard for her own turbulent feelings.

"You didn't know you were pregnant? You didn't know you were marked? You didn't know what, Ka-go-me?"

He could hear the bite in his words, see it in her brown orbs that looked at him with such hurt at her own actions. She hadn't been as hurt by his words as she had been at her own actions, her own betrayal when really it hadn't been a betrayal on her end. She hadn't known his feelings and while she had loved him it hadn't been as a potential mate... No, as a friend, like the others that stood by her side and while they had been thinking about her he had been thinking about himself. Thinking about his own hurt when she hadn't done it to slight him. No, she had only done what anyone would have done with a person they saw as mating material. Koga would've done the same thing if he had been given that chance, but Kagome had told him so long ago that she loved someone else. She had told the wolf that! She had admitted to wanting another male... But her own pained cry of 'no' when the spider demon had claimed it as his own told him that she truly had no idea of who had marked her, who had claimed her.

She had said as much, that she hadn't known who had claimed her, left her pregnant and then had vanished like a fog in the heat of the sun. It all came at him, all the feelings that she had been feeling at that moment, the ones that he hadn't been able to see at the time. She had lied to them, but only before that. In that moment she had laid it all bare before them and their enemy.

"I'm cursed..."

She felt cursed by it all, by being there in a confusion because of that one night. That was it wasn't it? She had felt like he couldn't touch her or he would become cursed by it... "Like she was tainted..." he muttered, the wolf behind him growling at his words.

"She's not tainted," Koga said, his tone coming out harsh at the accusation that he heard from the Hanyou's words.

"No, she's not, but that's what he's doing," Inuyasha said, now getting Koga's attention. He hadn't been calling her that, no, he had been talking about what was happening to her. The memory fog that she was in wasn't because he had failed to keep her sober. No, Naraku had been there, somewhere on those grounds... waiting for the perfect moment to make the small woman question her own worth. "And I helped him."

"What the fuck are you talking about mutt?" the wolf asked, growing irritated again at the shit popping out of the other male's mouth. "How did you help Naraku do anything to Kagome? That doesn't make any sense!" The Hanyou let out a dry laugh.

"That night, the night that she became mated, she had been drinking," he said.

"Well, duh, you told us that, hell even the two humans knew that!" Koga wasn't happy with this talk, it only served as a reminder that Kagome had been claimed and while the claim could be changed, it could only happen if the person taking her also held her heart. That was rare. One true mate was what demons were taught at a young age. One true mate and no one else. That was the end. You died when your mate died. There was not second mate, not for the male or the female. And if there were pups, then the mate that was still alive (if they weren't killed at the same time) lived until the pups were old enough or someone else was able to protect them. Even then it was still half a life because you were missing the other half of your soul, the one that completed you. Not even your children could hold such a place.

"No, the sake isn't the reason she doesn't know her mate," he spat angry with the wolf for not getting it and because he had failed her that night. Somehow he hadn't sensed the evil Hanyou and had left her open for the only attack that would destroy her. Death wouldn't have ended it for her. She would have become like Kikyo was... a lost soul with a final task holding her to the earth. She could have ended up like the dead Miko as a walking entity that held neither life nor death. She would have been in purgatory... in limbo until someone killed her again and even then her soul wouldn't be allowed to rest. There would be no one to do what she had done for that child that had died in her time. No one would be able to sooth her because she was the only one who could kill Naraku. The only one that could purify him from this world so that he wouldn't alter the course of her time. "I'm the reason." And with that he turned to head back to the campsite, a new feeling taking over him. Guilt.

He was guilty of once again leaving her in pain, giving her a fate worse than death. He had left her to the enemy twice now.


	25. Chapter 25

Koga stomped after the other male, fuming at his words, at his own worries instead of the woman that was in dire need of their help and yet by those same words it seemed that the Miko would need emotional aid as well as physical. He yelled after the Hanyou, the male in question ignoring him as he moved quickly away from the wolf. "Mutt! Muuuuutttt!" The broke thru the trees, but even in the presence of their group, his brother turning to look at them as they came closer to the fire. The others were asleep until his final call to Inuyasha. "Now listen here, mother fucking mutt!" he said, his hands curling into fists. The Hanyou turned on him, his eyes flickering in the red blaze behind him. Even in the shadows they seemed to glow.

"Shut up and leave me the hell alone, wolf boy!" he yelled, Rin turning over in the sleeping bag, Miroku opening his amethyst orbs to witness the spat that was happening before him. "I told you what I know and that's all I have to say to you or any fucking else!" He went to turn but Koga was quick, his fist making contact with the silver haired male's face, knocking him into the fire and putting it out. Inuyasha lay there for a second, the heat of the embers warming his skin, but not burning his fire-rat. How many times had Kagome used his very suikan to protect herself at his insistence? How many times had he used that to also scent mark her? "I thought I told you the last time, fucking wolf, that you would only get one Kami damned strike against me," he spat, moving to strike the other male as the others moved away, Miroku grabbing Rin and moving her away from the fray. Sesshomaru watched the two fight, his brows knitting as it went back and forth between the two males. They were such children, his brother and this wolf. Fighting over a toy would be just as immature and yet, here they were fighting over the Miko again. Did his brother not see how the woman idolized him, how she hung onto him even when he went after the dead one?

"Silence you two!" he bellowed, his voice so loud and yet, so low that anyone could hear it and the fact that he was beyond ticked off by their little display. His brother didn't stop at first, his fist connecting again and again with the wolf's face until the silver haired Lord stepped in, burning his brother's wrist with his poison to tear him from whatever was keeping him from hearing and seeing what he was doing. Koga fell back on his ass as he glared up at his foe, his love rival. It was like sparks were crackling between the two even as Sesshomaru glared at the wolf, his hand still burning the flesh of his brother's wrist. It didn't stop the glaring contest, but it did keep them from breaking out in a fight again. "Children, both of you!" he hissed. "Even my ward has better manners than the pair of you and a much better frame of mind too." Rin smiled as she rolled back over, a yawn escaping from her lips as she resumed her sleep. "The Miko would not only kick the shit out of both of you for fighting over her like a fucking possession, but you brother," he said turning his attention to his brother, two pairs of gold meeting in a silent fight. They didn't like each other and that was evident by their constant fights, but Sesshomaru wasn't about to let not only his own ward be disrespectful attitude toward her well being, but the mockery they laid at the Miko's feet by fighting between each other when they should just call a truce as he had to get her back. "It's not like I couldn't take her right out from under the pair of you and she would be better off."

"Why you motherfucker!" Koga growled, Inuyasha throwing his brother a look. He knew the lord wasn't interested in Kagome, but he didn't need to throw it in his face that he wasn't good enough for the woman in question. He was temperamental, a Hanyou, as well as a whole slew of reasons why his brother would make a better mate to the Miko, but he wasn't going to let him ever do that. He wouldn't let anyone claim Kagome because she belonged with him, he would rather die then be without her. Hell, to even think of the fact that if this mysterious mate ever showed up and she did choose the other male, he would be forced to watch her happy with the other male and making more pups to grow their family made him physically sick.

"Now that I have your attention," the demon dog said, throwing a look at the monk to see if he was still awake to witness this conversation and was pleased to see that not only was he awake, but he was sitting up with his staff at the ready. Ha, as if he would have a chance to use it when Sesshomaru would just beat the shit out of the two men if they got into another fight. "There will be no fighting amongst you two and if there is, just know this," he stated as he released his brother's wrist, the mark of his handprint wrapped around Inuyasha's wrist almost completely burnt down into his muscles. Even though he had been holding it the whole time he hadn't been applying his acidy poison the whole time. "I can do that to the both of you, keeping you from ever claiming a mate or pupping them either." The pair blanched as Miroku tried to hold back a laugh. He could only image that pain and that it would hold them in a truce until the demon lord left them. That wouldn't be too long if they could find Naraku and deal with him. He longed for that day as they did, then Sango would finally marry him and his wind tunnel would also be a thing of the past, though in some respects he would miss the cursed thing.

"Shall we get some sleep now?" the monk asked them with a smirk. The two scoffed and went to opposite ends of the clearing, Sesshomaru returning to his post so that three sets of eyes were watching over the campsite.

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Kagome hadn't been allowed to sleep at all that day, Naraku keeping her up with his constant check ups, making noise and harassing her in other ways. One example had been just hours after she had come to his castle, creeping in as she was passing out on the wall furthest from the door, her eyes growing heavy from her condition and from the lack of energy from no food. He had crept over to her, watching her as she tried to keep her eyes open, her power locked away by her own hand to protect her children, and had touched her. True, it had only been her hair, running his fingers thru her raven strands, but she had recoiled, kicking out to keep him from her body nonetheless. He had only took a step back, chuckling at her attempt.

"Don't worry, Miko," he said. "I shall have you after you birth my pawns, my princes and maybe a princess to use as well." Her eyes narrowed at him as nausea curdled in her stomach. She hoped that she would bare no girls for that reason now, though she still worried about it if she had sons instead. How many was she having was still up to the fates. Maybe two? She could only hope she only had two or maybe that Sesshomaru was wrong and she was just having one kid, but that would mean that the child would be too strong and that would only lead to disaster. "I hope she is as beautiful and pure as her mother, that would be much more fun." She tried to ignore him, tried to push those words away from her mind, keeping her ears and mind shut to his vile ideas for her babies.

"I would rather die," she spat, her mouth twisting in anger. He had reached out then, grasping her wrists in such a painful hold that she couldn't hold back the cry of pain, her bones feeling like they were breaking as he thrust her against the wall. Her head hit the stones and she could swear there was something dripping down her skull, but she dared not to think about it, afraid that he would only do it again to watch her writher in pain. No, she wouldn't show any more weakness to him since he enjoyed it all too much.

"You will wish your death before you ever reach that relief," he said, moving over her so that his body was straddling hers. "I will make sure that every second you live will be a living nightmare, defiling you over and over at my whim." A pause as his tongue came out to streak across her cheek and up to her ear. "Maybe let the Hanyou that you love so much watch me take your body over and over as he dies just a little inside with every thrust of my body. That sounds like so much pleasure, so much agony between the two of you." With the word he thrust against her, his body pushing against her harder with every movement and she found she couldn't hold it back, even if she wanted to and at this point she didn't. Her vomit landed on his lap and some of it splattered on his face, his lips curling in disgust. He wanted her to suffer and she would make sure that it wasn't all fun and games for him either. If she had to suffer than why couldn't he? "You fucking cunt!" he growled, his hand coming down hard to strike her in the face, her jaw snapping back and her head hitting the wall with one side. She could taste the blood that filled her mouth, but she didn't cry out this time. She would be stronger and he would grow bored with her lack of emotion... or would it only make it all that much worse.

Getting up he walked away, some of the puke rolling off his body and onto her, but she didn't care, smirking at his back with the knowledge that he had thought he had all the control. "Did you enjoy that?" she whispered, a chuckle slipping past her lips as some of her blood leaked out. "Because as vile as it tasted, the victory was all that more sweet." He didn't acknowledge her words with words of his own, or even a look. He stiffened and then stomped out. Ah, one point for me. She felt strange about that weird victory, finding something funny about her predicament, but better than going dark like she was sure he was trying to do. Hell, for all she knew he had been the one to mark her, claim her by another's hand, but his words rang in her head. He knew the father, and this male was coming to her rescue. Why would someone he used be coming to her rescue? She just didn't get it at all, but then again while she didn't know her mate maybe she had met him on her travels at some point. Thinking about it did no good at this moment except make her feel more sick with the headache that was forming behind her eyes. Winching she finally touched her skull, the spot where she had hit the rock and found liquid... Blood came back on her fingers. Wincing she wondered how bad it was. Talking had hurt since he had managed to do enough damage without actually breaking her jaw. That was strange too. Why would he hold back when he only needed her to incubate her babies?

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Sango headed out at first light the next morning, her weapon repaired and ready for use, but when she took to the skies she noted that there was darkness in the distance that hadn't been there the night before. No, she would have seen it, but then again, she had been more concerned with taking care of her boomerang than the skies. "Kirara, did you see that last night?" she asked her cat companion. The golden furred fire cat shook her head, narrowing her eyes at the area consumed by the darkness. Hmmmm... Did that aura feel like Naraku, she couldn't tell from where she was, but if it was him then that meant the evil Hanyou had moved away from her group and that worried her. Did they know that he had moved and if so then did they move away from where she had left them? No, they wouldn't leave knowing that she would be coming back that day. Made no sense to uproot the meeting place when she would only be gone for that night, but they knew where her village was so they might come to her if that were the case...

With a single command they moved closer to the spot, the darkness moving toward them with such speed that she wondered if it were alive and was out to attack, but then she noted that there was a figure walking the grounds and it wasn't a male either so that ruled out Naraku's castle having moved. It still was weird that another dark creature would be roaming the world with the same evil aura as the spider demon. He had incarnations though and maybe this was like it had been for the child that he had spawned. He had been kept at a separate location than Naraku himself for the safety of his heart that the child bore so that he could be free of it. That child was gone, disappeared shortly after the last big battle only to be replaced with the seven deadly warriors whom they had also defeated. Did the evil demon have anymore people at his beck and call that were of his own making? Not in the last two battles had the fought anyone that held that same stink of their enemy so there was no telling if he had become disenfranchised with spawning his own pawns or if he were weakening with each one. There was only one way to tell so she continued her flight toward the lone woman, watching for anyone that might pop out of the darkness that now presented itself as miasma the closer that she got. The woman was covered from her head to toe in a hooded robe, her only indication of her sex was her body type that was clear with how tightly the robe clung to her curves, but there was something off about her. She wasn't moving very fast, almost just enjoying a leisurely stroll along the wall of the castle.

Throwing on her mask she finally hit the harsh waves of miasma, the darkness becoming thicker to the point that before she could get close enough to see who the woman was it was as if the castle disappeared before her very eyes, causing her to turn back and retreat. Guess, that will have to wait until I get back to the group. Inuyasha can blow away this shit while I have no way to dispel it. She failed to notice the brown eyes that turned at her retreat, the sad look of the woman who couldn't even see her in the fog of miasma that kept her power down and her body feeling weak. It wasn't as strong around the area she was trekking about, but it was still lingering in the air around her, her nose still getting the downside of it since she couldn't cover it with her chained hands. He had allowed her out this morning, to breath in her captivity as he had put it. Scoffing under her breath she turned to look at the castle. She had no way to escape from this hell and while he had left this morning, probably for another scouting mission for another pawn, she felt little relief. Her hands caressed her small bump, worry that she would be here still when it was time to deliver her babies. After all, he had given little time before they were to be born, the protrusion of her belly a little bigger this morning, as if she were slowly being filled with air like a balloon. She just had to get out of here, but with no power outside and the power that held a punishment inside she was left to wait and hope. That hope would keep her going, right? She had to hope that he would come for her, would take her from this dark place.

No, he won't come, after all you aren't that important to him right now. Maybe in a few months when he's gotten over your betrayal to him. No, she wouldn't think like that! Inuyasha wouldn't leave her here for that long! He may not be happy with her, but he always came to her aid, he had promised to when they had been at his father's grave on the other side, wanting to protect her! That was before Kikyo came to life and even though she is dead he will avenge her. Sango had told her what had happened with the dead Miko, but she didn't know if it was because he wanted to be with her. Sure, he had been mad at her, but Sango had told Miroku why... Though she didn't learn about the reason until later.

He had been upset that she was with child, because as one of his pack he was to pick her mate. She chuckled at that. Like she would let him choose for her when she wanted only one person as her partner, her mate. She wanted him in that role and would never accept another. Scowling she touched the mark still on her skin. Not that she had been given a choice... 'You don't know who your mate is so maybe you liked him...' No, you don't like him, but maybe you imagined that he was someone else... She wanted to strike down the voice in her head. It wasn't right about any of it! Inuyasha wouldn't abandon her! Kikyo held no hold on the Hanyou, a fact that he had revealed by putting her in her place and she wouldn't pretend anyone was her Hanyou... Would she?

"So there you are, my little Miko," came a dark voice from the shadows of the doorway. Kagome took a step back from said doorway as Naraku emerged from the shadows. She glared at him, a warning in her brown eyes that he paid no heed to as he moved toward her, a slow pace that had her backing up even as she didn't want to. There was something in those red eyes that she didn't like, not that she liked him to begin with, but there was something dark brewing those depths for her that would not bode well. "Time to start my plan of defilement." As soon as he said that the skies darkened further as several hundred demons filled the skied with cries of blood lust. "Don't worry. They will not kill you." He laughed darkly at his own statement. "I told you that you would wish for that death while in my detainment, but not until you have outlasted your usefulness."

Screams erupted from her lips unbidden as the flock of demons lay into her flesh, her blood falling around her like rain and scenting the wind with her bittersweet smell as he reached down to coat his finger with the red substance before lifting it to his lips with a moan of pleasure.


	26. Chapter 26

Three sets of eyes turned to look as the slayer touched down, the other occupants still sleeping by the fire pit. The brunette looked to Inuyasha with a look of confusion. "Why is everyone looking so tense?" He 'keh'd' at her, refusing to answer for a moment before she coerced the answer from him with the help of a knock upside his head with her weapon.

"Why the hell'd you do that, bitch?" he growled, his hand coming to rest on the spot where she had struck him.

"Inuyasha," she said, looking at him with a look of a mother's warning in her brown eyes. "Why does it seem that something went down while I was gone?" He turned from her with a grumble of something under his breath and when she said nothing, just lifting her weapon again in warning he finally told her.

"Just a minor tiff," was all he said. Koga said nothing, turning away from the scene as if to ignore them and the conversation that was as much about him as it was the Hanyou. "Are we ready to head out now?" He wanted the conversation over as fast as possible and he knew that talking about their mission to retrieve Kagome would do the trick in changing the direction of her wrath to one who deserved it.

"Yeah, but," she said, looking at the people still sleeping, her monk still looking a little scuffed up, even more so with the bandages applied by Shippo. "Are we even sure that his castle is still up ahead?" Koga turned to her now, wondering at her words. Sesshomaru raised a brow as well, his brother growling in rage at her words. Was she implying that Naraku had up and moved without their knowledge. "I'm not implying that you stupid or something, but on my way out of my village I came across a rather dark castle, miasma drifting around it like a fog."

"Slayer, do you mean to tell me that you think he moved further from us to a place that he would be seen?" Sesshomaru inquired as he moved to wake his ward, his fingers brushing against her hair as she stirred. Sango nodded. "So, he needs more time." Time for what? Time would tell, but any of the members in their group knew that with Kagome in his "care" that it could only spell disaster, but why would he move closer to a place that he had once attacked before? He wasn't that stupid was he to think no one would notice such a structure... cocky as he was did he really think he was strong enough to do battle with them so early on? His brother wouldn't take to long to go after him, trying to strike him down and with the power of his demon that even he, Sesshomaru, had trouble thwarting before. He wouldn't stand a chance and with the power behind his feelings for the Miko it was bound to be a quick fight. Then again, Naraku held a trump by holding onto the Miko as well. Something he could use to keep them from attacking and while he wouldn't be against striking him down anyway, his brother and the group would surely strike him down in retribution.

This battle would be one for the ages with them at a standstill, sitting by as they tried to find a way to free the raven haired woman, but also hoping that she wasn't the one they had to fight against in the end... or would Naraku keep moving until he held possession of not only the Miko but the pups once they were born. At this moment they were nothing to the evil Hanyou, but a way to an end that he could not use until they were older. "Could he force the birth of the babies?" Miroku asked, suddenly up and about without anyone noticing. The silver haired Lord looked to him in shock. He had not thought of that. Naraku could do many a thing with his own form, so who was to say that Kagome wouldn't be forced to have an early labor, the pups forced into the world sooner than they should be.

"That bastard would do anything to get what he wanted," Inuyasha spat, moving close to the fire pit, grabbing stuff as if to head out when Koga stopped him.

"And as much as I would love to rush to her aid, mutt, we need to eat something first." The Hanyou growled. He didn't need to eat right now, he needed to get to Kagome and before the bastard that held her moved his castle again. Maybe he had intentionally placed his castle where Sango could see it, just to give them false hope that it would be so easy to get to the Miko, to slay him... whatever he had intended with revealing himself so easily. They needed to get moving before that happened!

"The wolf is right, brother," Sesshomaru muttered coldly. "You will not be doing her any good by acting this way and I, for one, will not allow my ward to starve because you want to go off half cocked!" Shippo awoke to the argument, his green eyes blinking as he took in what was transpiring before him. Inuyasha was acting like himself, pushing them like he had in the beginning and like Kagome had done before the others had arrived, his brother was forcing him to sit still. He knew this would only further anger the Hanyou, but he too agreed that this wasn't what the Miko would want, though he too wanted to go after the woman who had taken the place of his own mother. With a scoff the Hanyou dropped the yellow bag before walking away from the group. He didn't want to listen to them! They may have had some interaction with Naraku in the past, seeing how he was, but he hadn't had anyone before Kikyo besides his mother and when Kikyo had been killed, sealing him to that tree, he had never thought he would find anyone that looked at him the way the dead Miko had. Now he had tasted what real love felt like, acceptance that had come from Kagome who hadn't even viewed his status as anything to be ashamed of... from the moment she had laid eyes on him she had trusted him.

He had tried to strike her down to get the jewel and while he was stuck with a necklace to keep him from doing further damage to the woman she still had trusted him to help her, to protect her. True, they hadn't gotten along that first few days, but she had shown that she wasn't a weakling and she didn't expect him to do all the work either in their relationship. She hadn't been treated well by him, calling her Kikyo and acting like she wasn't a real person at all, not her own person by any means. Hell, he had thrust the bow upon her with the expectation that she would be able to handle it like her predecessor had and while it had made her upset she had attempted to use it. She hadn't given up, not once. He knew she would be fine, well, at least for a few days, but he still saw her as he had that first moment she had failed to use the bow, tossing her off his back. She wasn't weak, in fact she was stronger than even Kikyo had been. Kaede had said as much herself, noting that even though her sister had been trained from the beginning that Kagome had long surpassed Kikyo in more than one way too.

Kagome was kind to all, whereas Kikyo was reluctant to trust anyone, to treat them as equals. He hadn't seen it before, but she had done it in their relationship as well. He wasn't an equal to her, not as a Hanyou. Kagome was pure in her feelings whereas Kikyo had held her feelings in, not allowing anyone to see that she had weak moments as most people did. Kagome. He just had to get to her! As he brooded in the tree overlooking the camp he noted that once again his brother and the wolf stayed away from the pack itself, like outsiders and truly they were as neither were part of his group. They were just two other packs that had come to his aid, like brothers that didn't like each other. Both hated humans at one point, with two girls changing their opinions to the point that one had grown a heart and the other had stopped attacking humans for their flesh. How strange was it that after all the anger between him and his brother with how his father had abandoned one while fighting to protect the other, had they gone down the same path as their parent. Both were connected to a human, both cared for someone other than themselves. They were after all from two different worlds, but here they were on the same path. Both after a common enemy that otherwise they wouldn't dare to bother with unless that person had attacked them or come upon their lands.

His brother was one to stay out of other's matters, but because Naraku had at one point attacked his ward, taking her captive, the Lord found himself longing for the blood of the dark Hanyou and Inuyasha, well, he was after him for that same reason, though for a woman who had died, a woman who hadn't truly wanted to attach herself to him unless he were human. Now he fought to avenge her, but his true reason wasn't even that. No, he wanted to remove the threat to the one that he loved, the one that even with her pregnant by another demon he wanted to live the rest of his life with. No, not just this life, but all the lives that would follow because even in death he would follow her, finding her again and again.

"We're ready to head out," Miroku called out to the Hanyou in the tree, smirking when he noted the determined look on the male's face. He knew what his friend was thinking about and he too was aware like the others in their group that Kagome wouldn't give up, not when she knew that they were coming. She wouldn't believe anything that Naraku fed her, not when she had managed all that time ago to fight against the child that had tried to turn her dark with the lies of her own feelings for Kikyo and Inuyasha. She might be fed lies about them again, but now that the Miko was dead there would be no more tears over his deserting her for the clay doll that had once been his love. Little did he know that because of the woman's death at the hands of Naraku that it would be more harmful than if she were still alive.

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Kagome lay on the stone walkway, her blood pooling around her again as it had earlier that day. Naraku had become more upset that even with all the hits she had been taking that with her new found abilities that it took seconds for her to heal, but she was still losing too much blood and with her pregnancy she would need that blood to keep the babies alive. Still he had allowed the demons to keep taking strikes at her, now for the third time that day and it wasn't even noon. She could only hope that he wouldn't kill her, no, he wouldn't want to take his chance of adding more pawns to his team, but then again he was pushing it close with the attacks.

"We could do this all day, but you bore me," he complained, his red eyes watching with disgust as the marks on her skin sealed up again. He would have to weaken her another way while keeping her blood in her body, but with her pregnant he couldn't do anything in the way of taking her, not yet. "Hmmmm... what to do with you?" He could starve her, but again that would interfere with his long term plan concerning the children in her womb. He wondered if there was a way to quicken her bodies state so he could take the babies and then take her body? He tried to recall if there was a demon that would be capable of taking her body and darkening it quicker if he was unable to get her out of the state she was currently in. He didn't know how long she would be with child before the babies popped out of her, but he did know that she had to be in her third month even if her body looked further along. She glared at him for her position on her knees before him, his demons hanging around her with blood dripping from their claws and others with blood streaking their bodies. This truly wasn't any fun with her attitude marring what should be such a pleasurable experience. Damn this woman! Reaching down he grasped her by the throat. Not even Kikyo had been this arrogant against his actions, glaring at him, but never showing her distaste with him. She had been a cold one and this woman was hot, her temper reflected not only on her face, but in her eyes as well.

He hated it and relished it. He had always longed to see Kikyo like this, but he had also longed for the fear to show as well and neither woman had given him that. He would send out his puppet to obtain a way to either darken her soul or to remove his pawns from her body sooner. "You give me so much more than even Kikyo did, her composure never faltered before me even when I held her in my castle." He dragged her closer to him, his red eyes drilling into her chocolatey ones. "You feed my soul with your malice that lurks unchecked under your anger and while I thrive on that feeling, I long to see you cower before me."

"Fuck you," she spat back at him, her blood hitting his cheek before sliding down. He didn't glower at her disrespect, merely smiling as he licked it off his face.

"I will be doing that, don't you worry and when your mate comes to save you he will no longer yearn for your body," Naraku stated. "He will want you to disappear. Do you want to know who he is, Kagome?" She refused to answer him, her silence all the answer he needed. "You travel with him, even when you go to your own time." The look of shock that flickered in her gaze intrigued him. Did she know who he was referring to? Did she believe his words?

"No," she whispered, her heart hurting with what he was telling her. "Why... why would you lie about that?!" Ah, so he had gotten a reaction and while he was pleased with her disbelief he would use it to taint her further. After all, he wouldn't lie to her like she believed he would. Why hurt someone with lies when you could just as easily break them with the truth?

"I wouldn't lie, after all I was there," he stated with a look of pure pleasure.

"Y-You watched that?" she whispered. "You're disgusting!" A chuckle escaped his lips as he touched her cheek with his free hand.

"Oh, little Miko, I never professed to being anything but a disgusting villain," was his simple response, pride in his voice before he slammed his lips against her own, her shock and disgust escaping in a gasp that let his tongue into her mouth. She shivered as her stomach turned, repulsed by his taste, the feeling of his invasion into her body and while she was in such shock she failed to fight, but she didn't respond either as his hand moved down her body. She could feel the bile rising and blinking out of her daze as his hand squeezed her covered breast she bit down as hard as she could. He pulled back from her quickly, blood dribbling down his chin as his other hand tightened on her neck. "You bitch!" But he didn't release her and he didn't strike her as his eyes narrowed on her, glittering like the blood that was beneath her.

"Don't touch me!" she gasped out, his fingers tightening again at the malice in her voice.

"My touch will be all you will feel soon enough." With that he released her, her body falling like a doll to the ground with a resounding splat as her clothing soaked up her blood like a towel and then he was gone, leaving her there with the demons hovering over her. She didn't know what to do except sit there, fear that the demons would come after her again, but instead she turned to face the land beyond the castle. She may not be able to see past the miasma, but her mind was the only thing working at that moment, her eyes were unseeing and her ears unable to hear any sounds around her.

Inuyasha... why?

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Sango clung to Kirara's fur as Miroku held onto her waist, his injuries better than the day before, though he didn't complain she knew that he was still hurting a bit though at least they were healing. They had tried the area to the south and while it had been apparent that Naraku's residence had been there at one point, but was gone. She couldn't believe that she had seen the castle and hadn't gone after it! She had been so close to where Kagome was kept, the Miko surely was in need of them, but no she had failed her friend. She had to think about something else, because Kagome wasn't the only one that concerned her. Right now she was concerned with the Hanyou in their group, his body was here, but his mind wasn't. He had seemed fine, ready to run thru the woods to her village, to find that castle, but now she could see it in his body movements. He was distracted and it wasn't a good thing. He needed to be alert when they got there and it wouldn't be too far, just a day or so away since with the fact that most of them weren't as fast as Kirara or Koga and the simple fact that they also had a child with them, aside from Shippo who sat with said child as Ah-Un they flew on the other side of the silver haired male. Sesshomaru ran along side of them, his eyes focused on the task ahead of them, even Koga was running with intent and while she knew that Inuyasha was the most concerned with the Miko they were running to save, she couldn't help but wonder what was keeping him in such a daze.

What is going on with me? He asked himself, the feeling of disgust stronger today than any other time, but he didn't know what was causing such a feeling. Sure, his emotions and even his physical state had been off lately, nausea weeks ago with pain that seemed to cover his whole body and now disgust. He wasn't smelling anything in the area that could cause such a feeling, but then again he might be feeling that way knowing that whatever the spider demon was doing with his Miko. After all, the same male had claimed to have mated to her, to have claimed her and that might be what he was doing now, though at that same time he wouldn't be allowed to do such a thing either. She was too pure to take on with her soul too clean for his own to chain itself to, but whose to say that he hadn't done something else to her in this short time. She could be- No, he wouldn't think that thought, not if he wanted to keep the contents of his stomach in his stomach. Mate is safe. Safe? How could she be safe and why was his demon still calling her that? He had no claim on her and with every time it said that word he felt anger again. He wanted her to be his mate, but she wasn't yet.

Another emotion filtered into his mind, his demon screaming in anger as a taste entered his mouth, a foul taste that threated his sanity and his body. He felt the urge to vomit and yet there was his demon again, cursing the male that he knew was too close to Kagome. He needed to get there now! Speeding up he tried to shove the pain that seemed to scratch at every part of his body and the emotions that were trying to dispel themselves from his mind even as he tried to subconsciously analyze them. He sped past his pack, taking up the lead role again, Koga speeding up to catch up with him as well before he could leave them all in the dust. It was only a week from where Sango's slayer village was, but with the time they would be saving in rushing it would be little more than a day or two at most. He wanted to push them harder, his demon growling at their slow pace, but even he knew he wasn't fast enough to make it there too quickly either. He couldn't blame them. We could be faster if you would allow me to take over, half breed! Mate needs us to hurry! He refused that demand. He didn't trust his demon half at times with good reason since it had wanted to flay all that were too close to him. Enemy or ally were not any different in that form and while he had little control over it he would never dare to allow it to take the lead role in his body. It is my body as well, don't you forget it!

Forget it, how could he when he at one point had wanted to allow it full reign... Before he had met Kagome he had yearned for his human side to vanish. Even with Kikyo he had wanted to become something he wasn't. He had wanted to be human to give her what she wanted, but in the end he had thought about it long after her death. He had thought about it after Kagome had made mention of her love for his form, for his Hanyou state. She wanted both sides, loving that he was human and demon. He hadn't believed her at first, after all in his time there was no love for his kind and certainly no love from the humans for his demon half and vice versa.

Why? Why what? Where had that question come from with no information to answer it. Why did it sound like a female in his head?

Mate is calling for us? No, she wasn't calling them, she was questioning them! Why was she questioning them and why did she sound so desolate? Like she was breaking? Kagome wasn't easy to break, after all she had been around him for how many years now? How long had she been fighting along side him? Long enough to prove that she was strong enough to deal with anything that Naraku could throw at her right? Right?!

"Hurry up!" he called back as he tried to push all the questions to the side again. He needed to be clear minded and ready to get her out of that bastard's clutches!


	27. Chapter 27

Naraku stood waiting for the sun to set, his red eyes narrowed off in the distance. Another day had passed, the Miko was still strong, though he hadn't thought she would crumble so quickly. He may be evil, able to taint those around him for his own purpose, but he had known Kagome was stronger than the others. After all that was why he had hunted her down to take her down. She was too strong and he couldn't have that, not if he wanted his jewel to darken. Speaking of that jewel... He hadn't found it on her, a curious thing since she was the holder of it. Pulling out his half, well more like 3/4 of the cursed jewel, looking into the darkness that swirled around it with the center like a sun, shining with the purity of the woman he was holding. It was growing brighter since he had brought her to his castle, a slight hitch in his plans that he had known would be possible. The closer she was to his portion the more likely her aura would cleanse it and that was something that he would never allow to happen. It was the reason he had infused his home with as much darkness as he could before bringing her here. There would be no light in his home, no way for her to have an ally in this dark space. Now he just had to wait for this demon to come and bring him the information he had sent his spies out for. The little wasp-like creatures couldn't really fight, but they were good when it came to gathering information and with the fact that the heroes were coming to rescue the Miko left him with little time to wait for them.

Sure, they could find him if he moved, but that would mean more time since he had to move this very evening as he was aware of the group that was just mere hours away from his castle. He had thought it would take them longer to get to him, but with the fact that Inuyasha, that half breed that had thwarted his plans with the dead Miko when he had cast her aside this last time before he himself had killed her. She had been useful, her undead form holding onto those last feelings of malice from her true life fueling her need to drag the Hanyou down to Hell with her. She would do it by corrupting the relationship between the younger Miko and the Hanyou. She would twist their relationship to break them, but no, again the silver haired male had managed to get past it all. He had seen what the Miko was, even though he had also fallen victim to her truths that he, Naraku, had used to his own advantage. Who would have thought that one night of sake that loosened the lips of the hurting souls. Kagome had allowed the Hanyou to take her when Naraku had wanted that pleasure, to torment the pair with his touch tainting her soul.

This time that blasted older brother of the Hanyou had ruined that for him! He hadn't been able to infuse his own scent into the woman as she lay there naked before him that night, her body being held close by Inuyasha. Even to this day it made him so pissed off to know that the only thing he could do was hide the evidence of her partner from both of them. To this day the silver haired male didn't know that he had taken the Miko, had no idea whom he had slept with, but Naraku was happy with that knowledge since the Hanyou knew he had had sex with someone. Maybe he thought that it was just a random human female or maybe he thought that Kikyo had somehow been able to take him in her dead form. No matter. He would continue to wonder since his mind wouldn't be able to break the lock on it, and that would continue to be the case since he was half human. His human half wouldn't ever want to know, burdened by the idea that he had not only betrayed Kikyo by taking the side of her love rival, but that he had slept with someone when he truly loved the Miko who had freed him from Kikyo. He knew that was the ultimate betrayal to Inuyasha. After all, he hadn't been truly in love with the other Miko, not when she hadn't been able to accept him for who he was.

Chuckling darkly at that he sneered at the door that led to the younger Miko. That was truly why his plan had failed. There had been no love for them to betray, since neither of them trusted the other, not fully anyway. If there had been trust like there was between the Hanyou and Kagome, then there would have been a stronger love. After all, this Miko was hurt over what he had revealed to her, but she didn't believe it or she didn't yet to believe it. With that belief she would question why he had done it and then had discarded her. There would be the questions of why he had even slept with her if he had done it because of her appearance or the drink had pushed him into the belief of that appearance. Her look wasn't that close to the other Miko and yet, she held the same coloring in a slight way that would led one to believe she was in fact Kikyo. A buzzing sound hit his ears and he turned to see that the sun was almost gone, the night shrouding his spies as they entered his window, one of them moving further toward him. Listening to the news of the witch he needed, one that had been sealed in the area farther North. That would take him past the dog Lord's lands, possibly too close to it, but he would take that chance since this witch held a power, a power to darken the souls of those she wanted for her own. He would use her for his deeds and then dispose of her when she was done being useful... if she was even still alive. The wasps didn't know of her current state, only of where her lair had been.

A dark and lonely part of the land that held no growth, no life, nothing but a barren castle that was so much larger than his. Chuckling again he turned to head down the hallway, past the room that held the Miko, down to where he needed to be to transport his castle before he stopped. He wouldn't need his castle. He would claim hers instead and leave this one for the group to find. Swiveling on his heels he headed back to the room, the door slamming open to reveal a tired looking female, her face healed, the marks from his demons gone. It was a frustrating sight, but it was out of his hands for now. "Let us go, Miko," he snapped, yanking her up by the arm before tossing her on his shoulder before the pair disappeared into a dark void that opened up in the doorway behind him.

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Hours later found the group trudging behind the Hanyou, the light from the sun long since hidden beyond the horizon. "Inuyasha, we have to stop and rest," Miroku said, holding onto his fiancée's waist tighter as his body pulsed with weariness and pain. His wounds needed to be treated again and everyone in their group, save for the non-humans, needed rest. The Hanyou's golden eyes shot back at them, noting the fact that Sango and Miroku were barely holding onto a tired looking fire cat, Shippo and Rin were yawning and while neither Koga or his brother seemed tired, they too needed to eat. They had only made one stop for the day and that had been nearly ten hours before. He was surprised that his brother hadn't snapped at him, but then again his brother seemed to be preoccupied at the moment, his own golden gaze scanning the horizon before them.

"Fine," he said, slowing down with Koga skidding to a stop beside him. The wolf appeared just as ticked off as he was with the stopping, shooting him a glare at the newest interruption. "Don't give me that look, wolf. Just because I agreed with a fucking truce with you doesn't mean I will take that shit." Koga growled low in his throat.

"You know that we're so close, mutt," he said instead of what he really wanted to do, beat the shit out of the golden eyed male. He was still pissed off that Kagome had chosen the male instead of him. She had chosen the one that had failed her in more ways than just leaving her to be captured. He had caused her sadness, making her cry when he failed to notice how much she loved the Hanyou. He had chosen to go to the dead one every time she had called. Maybe not this last time, as he was aware, but enough times that he was sure Kagome was broken hearted. "She's just around the corner for all we know!" Inuyasha snarled, his fangs gleaming in the moonlight.

"You don't think I want to rush after her as well, that I fear what is ha-" He sighed, stopping his words with a rake thru his silver locks. "Fuck it, I'm not talking about this with you." He was tired of them all, but he was more upset with the wolf and he didn't really know why. It wasn't because of his interest in his Kagome, no, Kagome had settled that so long ago, and it couldn't be because he felt the other male wasn't part of his pack, that he was the leader of another pack entirely... no, Sesshomaru was also leader of another pack and even with the hatred they sometimes felt for each other he didn't find himself with the other male. No, there was something else that bothered him about the wolf leader. "Maybe you should go back to your pack, maybe just wait for us to get Kagome." He really wanted to say for him to just go back, to never come near them again, but he was trying to be nice, like Kagome had asked of him all those times, being sat for not doing as she requested. He just couldn't be nice to the wolf, not really and then it struck him. He didn't trust the wolf. He didn't trust this male around his pack or around the Miko who was missing.

What would cause that feeling? "The fuck you think you're talking to, bastard?" the wolf roared, the others becoming tense as they watched the pair begin another argument. Did they not remember the dog demon's warning of castration? Had it already slipped their minds? Seriously, they had been on the road for one day since that talk and yet here they were again, fighting, though not with fists... not yet at least. "I ain't leaving Kagome's rescue in your fucking hands! You'll fuck it up like you did in being her protector! I should have taken her with me that day, not allow her to stay with the likes of you!" Sango's eyes narrowed with Inuyasha's own golden orbs. This wolf was talking about all of them and while Miroku also looked aggrieved by Koga's words he leaned back against Kirara, the fire cat laying down with her fangs bared at the wolf. He was making quick enemies of the group, if he hadn't already with the actions in the past.

"Are you kidding me?" Inuyasha asked with a bark of laughter, bitter and angry. "You're the fucker who kidnapped her and then proclaimed your love for her when all she did was show you kindness!" Their voices were growing louder. "Hell, the only reason you ever were able to help her was by using the shards in your legs and now without those you're nothing but a useless bastard with feelings for a woman who basically told you to fuck off! How stupid can you get?! Chasing after a female who doesn't want you!" Blue eyes narrowed at him, shock and anger flickering in the depths.

"What about you, dog breath?!" Sango and Miroku shared a glance, they knew where this was going and it wasn't going to be good. Sesshomaru stood there, watching the whole thing and also had insight on where this was about to go, and he too didn't want to deal with the fallout that would only cause an actual bloodbath to occur.

"Wolf," he hissed, his voice cold, but Koga ignored it.

"You're always chasing after a dead bitch!" Sesshomaru's voice was low as he again called to the wolf while Sango prepared to knock one of them out to stop the impending fight. "Kagome would have been better off if you had remained on that fu-" SMACK! The fist of Sesshomaru came down upon the back of Koga's head while Sango thumped the Hanyou at the same time. The slayer let out a sigh of resignation.

"I knew we shouldn't have let him come with us," the monk stated, shaking his head. Shippo giggled, though he had been worried for a moment there. Rin leaned forward, her body resting against Ah-Un who seemed to sigh himself. Jaken walked to Sesshomaru's side, his staff taping the prone form of the wolf while Sango moved Inuyasha's body next to Miroku's side. "You know he's going to strike the first person he sees after what you just did and I don't want to be that person." Sango laughed before looking down at Koga's body.

"I shall take him back t-"

"I will do it," the demon lord stated, grasping the wolf by the back of his armor before disappearing into a ball of light that shot off from them.

"Okay, well, one less issue," the slayer stated before asking the kitsune and Rin for help with dinner. There was still boar left over from lunch and while Kagome's bag still amazingly held some of her snacks and such, it didn't have anymore ramen. Rin took the pot and with Shippo they ran off to find some water for the rice from Minako's village. At least they had that, it would be a filler that would allow the meat to last a bit longer. The two returned rather quickly, Jaken following close behind Rin as he knew what would happen to him if he allowed any harm to happen to his master's ward. It didn't take long for everyone to eat, Inuyasha still laying unconscious next to Miroku, Sesshomaru showing up moments later without the wolf leader. Sango was the first to ask, "So, how did that go?" The silver haired male just scoffed. "For fuck's sake, I was just making sure we don't have to deal with another issue and you know there will be one because he will come back once he wakes up."

"No, he won't," Sesshomaru stated, taking a bit of the raw meat from the yellow bag, his eyes narrowing at the plastic that seemed to keep the food from his stomach. Sango snatched it from his fingers and removed the food before shoving what was left back in the bag. "I have ensured that if he were to come back, he and his pack would find themselves in a rather life threatening predicament." Ah, so he had threatened their lives... great.

"That might stop his pack," the slayer said, a groan from the Hanyou shifting her attention as he spoke. He had been awake it seemed thru the last part of the conversation.

"He might be a bastard, but he wouldn't want to lose anymore of his pack, so just drop it." Sango sighed, walking back over to hand him the food they had prepared for him when he finally awoke. Amazingly enough he didn't strike out at anyone, though anyone could see that he was pissed off at what had happened. "And next time just knock him out, not me."

"Silence brother," the silver haired lord said, watching his brother take a few bites of his food. "You know very well that the wolf wasn't the only one looking for a fight. Knocking him out wouldn't have stopped you or your demon from annihilating the male you see as a rival." Taking a bite of the raw meat he continued, "After all, he knew just what to say to further piss you off and make you weak from your damned human emotions."

"He couldn't get to me," the Hanyou stated as he scarfed up his food, ready to start back on the road, but knowing they would be going nowhere that night. No, they would have to wait until the morning. His brother shook his head, but didn't say another word. Koga's words would have made the demon that lay under the surface come out and without the Miko there to subdue him they would have to fight him and nothing but death would stop him in that scenario.


	28. Chapter 28

When Kagome looked around her, the air around her stale with death, she watched the space below her as she was facing downward on Naraku's shoulder. She wanted to fight him, to thrash until he dropped her, but the ground was so far beneath her that she feared she would plummet to her death. Still, she wondered about where they were. She had never seen this place and while she had recognized that they had passed the Western lands at one point, she wasn't aware of what this side of the lands held for her. Certainly not a place that held such death as this one did. The energy in this place was far more evil than the man that held her and that was saying a lot considering all that he had done since his own birth, long before he had become Naraku. No, Onigumo hadn't held the power that he did, but he had been evil inside and out, wanting only destruction and ruin even when he had been alive. Long before he had come to Kikyo as a bandit that had been wounded and unable to move, forced to allow a Miko, the opposite of his own faith, to care for him. Even then he had wished for her to be like him, twisted and malicious.

"It is so wonderful here," Naraku said, looking around at the place that would be his new base, his new home. It pulsed with the evil that had once filled it with corpses that fought to bring down the good and lively people that had inhabited its very lands. No one was here, no one dared to enter here even when there was no sound from the castle before him. Even it looked foreboding, the large structure dark with only a black aura clinging to it and yet, he felt there was still a being in there, lurking in the silence as if holding its breath at its newest occupants. Did it feed off the evil that now stood before it? Was it waiting for him all this time with a will to thrive in different way than the lives that beheld it?

"What is this place?" she asked, curious as to what was causing her dread at the sight of all the obliteration below her. He chuckled as they dropped down to stand at the large stone door of the estate. He didn't answer her for a moment, one of his hands reaching out to touch the stone structure, cold as death. Kagome could feel the sadness of the place, the malice that pulsed outward toward them as if wrapping them in a hug that was neither friendly nor welcoming.

"This is the home of a wonderful entity, neither alive nor dead when she reigned over the forces of death and destruction." The door opened, revealing the same darkness that was over the land, the windows above them shrouded in that same darkness. There were tatters of what might have been curtains in those windows, but blood splatter on the floor below her drew her attention. Death had been in here, people dying at the door before even entering the domain of this mysterious entity. He chuckled at her tensing, her fear bringing him the joy that he hadn't been allowed to surface at his own castle and while that also brought about a jealously of the tyrant that had run this castle, he found that it would suffice in bringing what he yearned for... her soul's death. "She was a tyrant, joyful in the demise her court brought and deadly when you couldn't do what she commanded of you. You gave her your life when you failed, there was no second chance and when there was one given by her pawn, a queen that she used for her own uses, you received a fate worse than death."

"How is it that no one knew her?" Kagome dared to ask, almost afraid of the answer.

"Oh, they did, but she didn't do just destruction to these lands, no, she was able to travel thru time, like you do Miko, but on a grander scale." He tossed Kagome onto the hard ground, her startled cry echoing in the darkness around her. It was strange, this mist that seemed to twist between one space and into another before becoming more like a fog as you went further back. It was like miasma, but different as it didn't seem to affect her health, no, it was suffocating her like claws around her neck and yet it allowed her to live. "She was more than a queen, a sovereign that held a higher status, but she travelled from Earth and was sealed back here when she failed against her fight with another monarch of true light." He walked past the Miko, almost forgetting her as he travelled further into the darkness. Kagome looked at the door, now closed, and thought about running when something told her that it would be futile.

Ah, you are like that cursed queen, so pure and yet you aren't as pure as you would believe yourself. Kagome blinked at those words. Who was that talking to her? Forcing herself to her feet she rushed toward the door only to be thrown back as darkness struck her. You are as naïve as they come, aren't you? So weak to leave my home, to think that you will escape your fate as the one that brought me here did. She is dead now, long forgotten while I wait in this silence, waiting for one such as your master to free me! Master? Naraku wasn't her master! She once again stood up, turning from the door to look around her. Weirdly enough Naraku was gone and Kagome felt a fear entwine her heart, clenching it tightly. She had to find a way out and with the male that had captured her gone for the moment sh-

"What in the world?" she whispered as she noted a shadow walking in the distance, not in the direction of where she thought Naraku had gone. Was it a safe bet to take by following that shadow? Probably not, but she would chance it. Looking at where Naraku had gone she rushed off to find that shadow, its form streaking down a hallway. Kagome followed behind, the echo of her footsteps seeming so loud to her own ears as she rushed down the corridor. It felt like she was running down that hallway for forever, the length of it impossible with how big the castle appeared on the outside and suddenly she found herself at doorway, stairs that led down to an even darker chamber if that was possible.

"Ah, so you have found it," came a masculine voice. Turning she found herself looking into Naraku's red eyes. She didn't like the way he had said that, as if it were a dark secret that she should have stayed away from. Taking a step away from him she hit the wall on the right side of the doorway, a burn coursing thru her body and numbing her senses all at the same time. He grabbed her and threw her ahead of him, causing her to stumble as she clung to the walls that once again burned her with all the evil that seemed to be emitting from the stones. Had there really been someone out there that had been worse than Naraku? Sure, there was evil out there, all types of it, but this evil seemed to pulse in the darkness, as if it would never die even if it weren't alive to do more evil deeds. Naraku followed behind her, in his hands the Shikon no Tama throbbed with pleasure and pain at the darkness that was drawn to it. The pink that had been it seeming to fade with every step down the long path into what could only be described as Hell as a heat began to throb from its core. Kagome winced as she walked, the fear, the malice, the sadness, the anger, all of it seemed to hit her full force while Naraku seemed to enjoy their little trip down.

She didn't want to go down there, a fear of what lay down there causing her to stumble again when they reached the middle of the stairs. She feared what was down there far more than she feared the male behind her. Was that a strange thing to think when she had seen what he was capable of while this new darkness had yet to reveal what it could do? Yes and no. The unknown was a common fear for even the people in her era, a phobia. That got her attention, her thoughts making her wonder as to what it could be that was repealing her and yet, drawing her in as it ate at her aura, thrashed against the pain of her purity while trying to force its darkness upon her. She stopped mid-step, Naraku knocking into her. "Move it," he snapped, moving against her in a way to move her forward and at first she only shuddered in disgust, but when he whispered, "Shall I take you right here, even with your babes still in your stomach?"

"No," she cried as she forced her feet to move, her body trying to stop her decent into what would only be deadly for it. The closer they got to the bottom the more suffocating the air seemed to be, the darkness like a thick blanket that robbed her of oxygen and strength. She soon found herself at the bottom of the stairs, pausing again to take in her surroundings as Naraku slipped past her and that was when she noticed the shadow from earlier. It stood against the far wall, almost darker than the darkness of the chamber. The chamber itself wasn't super big or small, but it wasn't medium. It was so hard to explain and as she stepped further in she found herself before another opening that seemed to be lit with a strange glow. The chill that exited that room was such a contrast to the one they were in at that moment, warm air against a chill and she found herself backing away from the room, but her feet were walking toward it. In the small chamber was what could only be described as a bed or maybe a coffin because when she drew closer she could see where someone had laid there, their outline almost etched in the stone that curved upward like claws. She moved closer to it even as her body rebelled against the action.

"Here it is," Naraku said moving to stand behind her, his red eyes taking in the rounded tank-like structure above the bed, but frowning when he noted that it wasn't as he had been foretold. No, it was broken on top, shattered to leave just the bottom half of it. Above that seemed to be what looked like a demonic face that was twisted in a fearsome growl, like the tank were coming out of those fanged lips as a jewel of amber rested above its eyes that were more like sockets that held nothing but darkness. "So, she was killed, pity," he remarked, moving to touch the clawed edges of the tomb. That's what the voice in her head was calling it.

The tomb that darkened my beloved prince, darkened him so that I could use him to destroy those he once loved. There wasn't any malice in his heart so it was a rather painful process, at least for him. A dark laugh echoed in her mind, chilling her in the almost frozen room. She could see the shadow of a body here, resting in a tormented way as a scream seemed to fill the chamber. Naraku seemed to hear it as well since he glanced around.

"Guess I will have to fill that with my own malice," he stated, almost offhandly. "Another incarnation to be used in such a pleasing way." Turning toward her he reached out to grasp her, and she knew what he planned to do. He would put her in that thing, would fill her with his malice, but she knew that it wouldn't be just his, no, she could feel the residue of the previous occupant of the tank, even if they were long gone. Did he know it was there? Was he aware of how much stronger this entity's malice was? Their evil was so much more than his and wouldn't be against destroying him to take that piece of the shard from him?

"No! Don't put me in that!" Kagome struggled against him, her powers flickering around her with all the energy she was using to get away from him, but suddenly a burst of energy from the tank above them she was stilled, her movements halted by that energy. Naraku stepped back in surprise, his red orbs looking on in bewilderment. He didn't know, that much was for sure as he watched her body being lifted up and placed in the tomb, a black aura of light enclosing her as she regained her movement, only to find that no matter how much she fought she couldn't leave the prison of that power.

"Who are you?" came a female's voice from around them, the voice held such a dark undertone as it echoed in the small space. The spider demon looked up, his eyes narrowing on the tank when he realized that it was where the voice was coming from. "Do you not speak evil one?"

"Let me out!" Kagome cried out, fists smoking with every strike against the power incasing her. She didn't care, her fear had a deep hold on her as she felt her body spike in pain, her powers trying to help her, but they didn't seem to be a match for this new enemy. What could she do against it?

Nothing, you can do nothing to thwart me! You will be my new host, those things in your body will wither and die if I will it. That stopped her, allowing the energy to brush against her skin as it blanketed her. Good. If you want those babies to live then you will do as I say and allow my energy to become part of you, to thrive in your body as a host to me. Naraku's eyes narrowed, debating if he should remove the Miko from her prison or if he should allow this woman to have what he wanted... Then again, she was a powerful one if she could tame the Miko so easily without a word.

"I do speak to her, half breed," she said again, his eyes flashing at the term that he abhorred. After all, that was why he had the jewel and yearned for the rest. "Do not be hurt over such words for that just means you are weak to allow those human feelings show. If you are weak than you are of little use than fodder for my gullet."

"I did not give you per-"

"I do not need your permission! You gave her to me as soon as you entered my home, my residence that has been waiting for someone stupid enough to think they can own what is still mine even if my physical body is no longer here!" He fell silent, unsure of what was going on and at the same time he hated that she had called him stupid. She was calling him weak and he wasn't weak! He was the strongest force to arrive on the Earth in the last fifty years! No one, not demon or human stood a chance against him! This entity was the same! "Oh, but you are wrong there, half breed! I have taken on the most powerful ones when I was alive, I ruled over a vast army of the dead, all of them bending to my will and dying for my mission to rid the world, no matter what time, of pure things. No one dared to smile in my presence or to laugh in joy, only spite and demented feelings were allowed here. You aren't as powerful as you could be and you will never have that power, even if that jewel you possess were full and round with its former state."

"As if you were powerful, whomever you are! You are nothing now, just a voice that hopes to scare those who enter this domain, and this domain is mine now. I hold a true form, standing before you as the new evil in this age." A shadow appeared before him, against the wall behind the tomb that held the now silent Miko. He watched it with a wary gaze.

"I may have lost a physical body, but I do not need one to survive! I will always be around, no matter how many battles take place against me. I will thrive on those that willingly bring themselves into my castle, who stand before me in the chamber that once held me. The queen before you was stupid enough to allow me to corrupt her when she yearned for a prince that was not to be hers since he loved a woman of pure love. Even that girl was no match for me as I destroyed her world, killed her friends. I am only here because she used their deaths against me, their souls still willing to burn away for her as they used the last of their energy to defeat me. I again ask you, half breed, who are you?" He debated on telling her that it was no business of hers, but he could feel the anger rising in the air around him, he could taste the hate that infiltrated his mouth.

"I am Naraku," he said finally, a huff of anger following his name. He hated that he felt a slight fear at her ability to fill the air with such strong feelings, warnings of what she could do.

"Ah, Abyss, my name is Kokū no joō, the Queen of the Void," she whispered, her voice causing him to shudder at all the hate she held in her name. "You will be a wonderful addition to my court, maybe as an underling or perhaps," she said, pausing as she watched him become angry. "as a king once you are no longer tainted with that human side you hold. I can only imagine that you wish to rid yourself of that human heart." That surprised him, not only that she seemed to be telling him that he would no longer be a half breed, but she knew what held him back. Indeed it had held back his killing of Kikyo for such a long time until he focused on the fact that she was dead and Onigumo relented his wanting of the clay body she held. It only held emotions that he had yearned for when he had been but a human, but it still didn't reflect them even when she had transpired to kill her former flame and his new Miko. "I see that I have your attention, Naraku. If you want to become a true demon, you only need to allow me to cleanse you and then you shall have all that you desire." There in lay the problem. He didn't trust this shadow, this voice, but while it held that allure for his full demonic form he didn't know how that would come about.

"How do I know that you are telling the truth?" he asked, hating how human he sounded with that question. Demons could feel out deceit in one's voice while humans had no way to tell if one were pulling the bait and switch on them.

"You are right not to trust me, as you have just found yourself in such a stalemate in my domain, but what do you have to lose?" Those words spoke of what would happen if he turned down her proposal, that she would cast him off or use him for his power, maybe she would kill him and it would all be done. None of that sounded appealing as he wouldn't get to kill his enemies and rule the world as he lusted to do. "You would gain the power to shatter your foes, all of them fallen at your feet with their blood painting the ground in such a beautiful work of art," she said, her tone filling with such joy. "You could have the woman and her babies would rule as heirs at our side, continuing our mission of darkening the world, torturing the humans that plague the land and making us the most powerful demons." It was sounding better and better with each word that echoed around him. "There would be no end to that malice, that evil that we would spread. We would not only change the horrible future of this planet, but other times would fall to our feet as we rule not only this time, but any that we wish."

"Give me the power to do all of that and I will gladly rule at your side with the Miko as my plaything," he said, a smirk twisting his lips. She said nothing for a moment before the air around him became thicker while he became lighter. Her laughter was the last thing he heard as his body twisted and was drawn into the broken tank, his energy mixing with hers as the broken container corrected itself and became like new.

"Good choice, Abyss."


	29. Chapter 29

Inuyasha grumbled angrily under his breath. They were at another stalemate in trying to locate and save Kagome since they had come to the place that Sango had been sure she had seen the castle of Naraku. It was gone, as if it had never been there, only leaving the trace of death on the landscape the only proof that it had once resided there. It was clear that it had been there for only a day if less since the grass that was mostly dry and dead was already healing with the introducement of the sunlight. This was getting them nowhere though since it appeared, with the use of his powerful sense of smell, that it had moved while they had been running toward it if not before that when they had been sleeping. Maybe Naraku had wanted them to know how easily he could move without them finding him or maybe he had seen the slayer and had moved knowing how much time he had before they came, either way it was a bust.

"We should probably go back to Kaede's until we have a lead to follow," Miroku stated with a thoughtful look. He was upset too. The longer they took to catch the person that cursed his family the closer he got to his death and he wanted so much more now that he had Sango and their marriage to look forward to. Before he had been looking for the vile demon that had brought about his father's and grandfather's early demise due to their curse, but he hadn't anything but that death to look forward to and the possibility of having a child to continue on in his stead should he fail before killing Naraku. Now he had more and he wasn't going to die before that bastard did, but they had to wait at this point since he was again gone and with their friend this time.

"No," Inuyasha snapped. He didn't want to go back until Kagome was back at his side. "We continue searching!" His brother looked at him, a look of incredibly at his words. "You all can go back if you want, but every second we waste in waiting the closer it gets that she's made into his little puppet or worse, dead."

"You can be so stupid, brother of mine," the older dog demon snapped. "I thought maybe there was some bit of brain in that thick skull of yours, but the lack of thought in this matter proves otherwise." The Hanyou bristled under his words, ticked off that even his brother wouldn't stand by him in this choice that was the best action considering who they were up against. Even the monk and slayer seemed ready to call in the towel. "The monk is right. It is best to regroup, after all my spies and my mother's are all working to keep a close eye on that bastard so it's not like we're not doing anything." Inuyasha scoffed. It was true, that's how they were led to the castle that had been down south, but now that it had disappeared as had this one they were back to square one and while he was still upset about the new plan even he had to admit that it was all they could do at this time.

"We want to find her just as much as you want to, Inuyasha," Sango stated, looking at him with exasperation. She was worried about the Miko and the babies that were in danger should Naraku got his way. After all the dark Hanyou was one to use something like this for his own benefit. He would use those babies just like he would use Kagome and with her pregnant she would be more mailable to his demands to protect her babies.

"Fine! Fine, we'll go back to the old lady's hut and wait for news on the bastard."

"I shall leave Rin with you while I go back to my mother's for more information." Sesshomaru didn't even wait for a response before he turned into a ball of light and was off. The others just stood there in shock and confusion. The older demon wasn't usually so trusting with just anyone when it came to his ward and while they were okay with taking care of the young girl, they were unsure of why he would leave her with them. Jaken looked rather upset with the abandonment of him with ones he had no love for much less with the child again. Always left to take care of her when his master left them to their own devices, he was used to that, but now he was left with the other humans and he hated humans. Not only that, he was left with the bastard brother of his master on top of that!

"That bastard," Inuyasha growled, looking at the girl in question who was busy playing with Shippo as the pair ran around Ah-Un seeming unaware of any danger. Sango and Miroku were glad that even in this most dire of circumstances that the kitsune had someone to keep him occupied and happy while Kagome wasn't there. He needed this. "Always just using others for his damned tasks! First monsters to do me in and now I have to watch his ward and that toady shit!"

"Now you listen here, half breed, I never wanted to be dumped with you of all people! Bad enough that I always get left to watch the human, but now to be left wit-" With a resounding thunk Jaken was silenced, the lump forming on his head from Mikoru's staff as he glared at the small male.

"The feeling is mutual," the monk stated before turning to the others. "The sooner we get on the road the faster we can find more information on Kagome and where Naraku is keeping her captive."

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Days later found the castle full of darkness, with just a single figure haunting the halls, his form changed from what he had been just days ago. His clothing was that of a king, his hair was tied back, the tresses moving with every step he took down the dark and silent halls as he continued to stare ahead. His red eyes looked lost and yet they were narrowed as he found the room he was looking for. In that large room a single chair, a throne made from the darkened rocks of the castle. He approached it, touching the armrest and feeling the chill from the cool material. It held no color, save for the same darkness of the rock walls around him. Everything was so dark in the castle, even with a few flickering candles that adorned the wall behind the throne and a few spaces on the walls around him. He felt the loneliness that clung in the air, knowing that he was just one of two occupants. The Miko was still in the ground chamber, fighting against the evil that was being pumped into her form that writhered around on the stone bed that was only illuminated by more darkness, the waves of evil attempting to corrupt her small form. It was all going well, he was stronger now, his human half gone as promised, but he felt that even though he were more powerful than he had been before that he was weaker now without his heart.

His heart had been easily removed, kept safe somewhere he could hide it, but now it was apart of him, and while it no longer held the human soul of Onigumo it was too easily destroyed since he required it to live in his new body. Looking down at his hands he marveled at them. His skin was blue, like he had frozen to death and in a way he felt that way. His feelings were still there and yet he felt numb, like he held no true feelings. Isn't that what he had wanted so long ago when he had allowed those demons to take his form, to make him Naraku? Yes, he had wanted to be one with no feelings, no fears, no joy, no nothing and yet it felt so different than he had ever imagined it would feel. But, how did one imagine such a form? Turning around he took in the large room, most of it shrouded in darkness, no light on those far walls to show him what lurked in that darkness. She had spoken of a time when this place had been filled with those that would do her will without hesitation, a queen that had stood by her side that had also bent to that will so she could get the man she yearned for, lusted after. What had happened to all that?

"They await the moment to fight for me again," came that same hate filled voice that he had come to hate himself. He didn't like her even with all the power she had bestowed upon him just at his request, not that he would have had a choice should he have said no. He needed her power to decimate his foes, to rule the world as he had longed for to be his and his alone, but now it wasn't just his. No, he had to share it with her as well. He wouldn't have minded having power over it and to have the Miko rule beside him because he would have control over her so she would never speak against him. This woman, the Queen of the Void, wasn't one to control. No, she had the control and the power to do with him however she yearned for. Turning to where the voice came from his mouth dropped open. There stood a beautiful woman, her skin like his, blue tinted like the sea on a beautiful beach, but her hair was as black as the place they stood, her eyes flashing for a second to show that they were black like her hair. "She failed me and found herself destroyed by those that she was supposed to kill, to keep the light out, but she failed and now she, along with all my minions are dead."

"If they are dead then how do they await to fight for you again? That makes no sense," Naraku stated as he turned from her to look at the dark space again, wondering what this woman had up her sleeves. Where had she gotten that body from? She approached him, a smile on her face as she sat down in the throne, one of her hands stroking the armrest with a joy. She hadn't had a physical form in so long, only using the queen from before for a body with the hopes that she could soon create one when she had the power of the crystal that had been lost in the last battle that had taken both her and her lackey.

"They are indeed dead, but with my new body," she stated, smirking up at him. "That you yourself gave me, I shall be able to rule my masses again." He was confused. How had he given her a body? "And before you ask, Abyss, it is not the Miko that I inhabit, but a form made by taking some of your power to create this body." At his shocked look she chuckled. "Yes, your power made this body, though I only needed a bit of the demons that you use for your own body and so, there is nothing to be upset about since you will surely go out and gather more so you can dispose of any weak ones that still are apart of you."

"You took some of my demons to make your body? How is that possible?"

"You do make incarnations of yourself, so how hard is it to comprehend that I could make a body using your own parts," she stated, looking down at her own blue tinted skin. "It was so easy to take what you were offering, though this body isn't the one that I myself had when I was human." Turning her hand as she seemed to grow lost in thought. "All those eons ago when I was a human, abet a powerful one with the dark magic that I held thanks to the sacrifice of my soul." Waving her hand a small ball of energy began to form, illuminating the space they were in, a sound of voices echoing around them. "I still possessed those powers when I was thrust out of her body, even the light was unable to kill me, just to weaken me while killing her." Flicking her hand to her right another throne appeared before his eyes. "She was weak, a mere human that lusted for another human to love her when he was clearly in love with the light that came to be his bride. She wanted to kill that woman, a princess that was so naïve even with all the darkness that lay beyond her lands. But now I have you," she said motioning for him to sit as the shadows before him shifted into several beings that were only visible from the neck down.

He did as she bid, though he was in so much shock at the people that were before him and the power that she was exhibiting with little effort. This was a source of concern since it showed that she was more powerful than even she had boasted about. "What do you want me to do?"

"You will defeat your enemies and once they are gone we will crush any who dare to try and dethrone us from our rightful place," the Queen stated. "Another bright side of this is that you will no longer have to create those that would surely turn against you as your new minions would never turn on you since they are just pawns, not parts of any human flesh or even demons, just pawns that I have created to fight my battles." Smirking broader at his obvious confusion of her knowledge of him. How did she know all this about him? "Not only have I been waiting for you, strong creature that you are, but while I was removing the human side of you I was enlightened by your memories and thoughts. I know that every incarnation you have ever made has turned on you and for that reason you wanted the Miko and the babies that are in her womb. To burn into them the knowledge that they are yours and not the half breed who actually sired them. With them turned into your own children they wouldn't dare turn against you."

"I don't know if I like you or hate you at this point," he stated angrily. "I can say that I like the power you have given me, though I know it is nowhere near what you yourself possess, but at the same time I hate that you have used me for not only to create a body for yourself, but the fact that you have invaded my privacy." She just laughed at him, finding his anger quite enjoyable and the fact that he knew that he couldn't stand against her.

"I don't care about how you feel, no, I rather care about how well you will fit me in this endeavor, Abyss. That is all that matters and if you cannot aid me in this then you are better off with my minions, rushing to their death if it will assist me in getting what I want." Looking out at her masses, their voices dim in the large room even as they continued to echo in their joined voices. "And what I want is power, more of it. Just don't forget what you have said. I have more power than you possess or have ever possess in your life and what I do with it depends on you."

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While the Queen of the Void was making her point with Naraku Inuyasha was fuming in Kaede's hut while the others just went about their business. Shippo was out with Rin and the village children while Sango and Miroku were assisting the villagers with their work. Inuyasha was the only one that seemed upset about the lack of information regarding Kagome and the location of Naraku's newest hiding place. It was pissing him off to no end and with every second that passed he seemed to grow more and more restless.

"Inuyasha," Kaede said while entering the small hut, more herbs from her trek into the forest in the small basket in her hands. "If ye are going to be like this it will do her nor ye any good. Pouting like a child does no good for the betterment of your situation." The Hanyou grumbled, turning toward the older woman with a glare.

"I am not pouting, old woman," he stated with an obvious pout on his face. "I am thinking." She chuckled at him with a knowing smile. "It's just irritating that we haven't heard one word from that bastard that calls himself my brother and no one in this area has seen hide nor hair of that spider bastard!" It was unlucky for them to say the least that while on the way back to her village that all the people they had questioned knew nothing if very little of the male they were after. It made no sense since according to those closer to the village knew about him and they hadn't even had to deal with him as often as the other places had. No, most places outside of their village had had dealings with the bastard known as Naraku, but they were the ones that now claimed to know nothing of him. Were they all that dense or were they just referring to the fact that they hadn't seen him in such a long time that he no longer existed to them? It's not like he went and brainwashed them all, was it? Sure, he had the power to do such a thing, but it made no sense since Naraku wanted to be the most powerful demon around, he would want them to know him and his power.

"It seems to me that he will come out soon enough, he is that way ye know," she said as she placed all the different herbs in their proper places, her back to him as she worked. "And we know that Kagome would never submit to him unless she had no other choice, but she is a strong one and would never allow him to use her in such a way to hurt ye or the others." That part bothered him. He believed in her strength, but at the same time she was only human and humans were easily swayed by their emotions, whether they wanted to do what they were told or not. Even Kagome could fall to those same emotions, to the need to protect them and her babies. That was the other thing. He knew she would do whatever she needed to do to protect her unborn pups even, if that meant that they too would have to die with her. She wasn't one to kill herself unless she felt it was the last option, seriously that girl would do anything for others that it made him a little upset with her love for all others above herself. He would never change that about her because that was the reason she had become his friend, even after he had tried to kill her, but at the same time he would let her know as her soon-to-be mate (and he would be that) that she needed to think about herself sometimes and not those around her. Not everyone deserved the joy of her love.

"If anything, she would do something too drastic," he stated with a tone that told the older woman that he was worried about her wellbeing and not just because of Naraku, but because of her own worse enemy, her heart. Kaede nodded as she sat down next to her fire, a pot in hand to start cooking their dinner that would be ready in a few hours time.

"Yes, she does go all out for her loved ones, but ye knew about that and you still stood by her," she stated as she went about gathering all her ingredients for the mean. "In fact, Inuyasha, I feel that is part of the reason that ye love her." The Hanyou tensed, narrowing his eyes at the woman with all the indignance that he could muster. "Do not give me that look. We all know your feelings for the Miko and hers for ye as well. Ye and she are the only ones who are in the dark." The Hanyou was left sputtering while trying to remain angry at the woman for her words, but it struck him that she wouldn't lie about something like that. Kaede was one that spoke what she felt even if the person she was giving that bit of truth didn't want to believe it. If that were true than why would Kagome allow another male to mark her, to have her body when she was love with him? Was it because of him that she had given up on him returning such feelings? "Of course, with ye chasing my dead sister it is a wonder that she hasn't just given up, but love can make fools out of anyone." Before he could answer the flap to the hut moved and Sango with Miroku in tow entered, both looking worn out and dirty.

"Seems that one of the villagers heard from a relative out east from here that there was a place where people have been dying randomly," the monk stated as he took a seat before the pot that was now boiling softly with their meal. "It started happening just about a day ago, late in the nighttime that the first death occurred." Sango nodded as she took a seat next to him.

"There had been death visited upon them before, but that was many decades ago, when a woman ravished the land with her hoard of minions, all of them in the search of a fabled jewel that would grant them power." Inuyasha turned to listen to them, wondering if it were the Shikon jewel they were talking about when Sango answered his unspoken question. "It was long before the Shikon no Tama, a crystal that was about the same size, maybe a few centimeters bigger and clear with a rainbow glow about it."

"I don't believe I have ever heard such a tale," Kaede said as she stirred the pot before placing a lid on it. "Though I doubt many in this area would know of such a thing that hasn't been around in such a long period of time." Miroku nodded.

"I haven't heard of it either, but it's not to say that it doesn't travel the same path as the Shikon in the fact that it was something to gain power from and that an evil being was after it. The only question is whether or not it holds a connection with Naraku? Would this jewel still be around in this day and age or was it destroyed?" Inuyasha pondered on this as the others continued to talk. A jewel similar to the Shikon? He had never heard of it either and while a good part of his life was being sealed to the God Tree, he would have heard of it since his mother's village was in the east, but he couldn't recall ever hearing about such a stone. The flap opened again and Shippo with Rin appeared, Jaken trailing behind them looking a little worse for wear. Holding back a laugh at the obvious fact that the little toad demon had probably been tormented by the children while out playing came to mind. Shippo himself would probably torment his new prey since Jaken had harassed them in the past and his obvious dislike for being here would only make it all the more fun for the kitsune.

"If only we knew someone who had information about this jewel that could lead us in the right direction," Sango stated with a sigh. "I have a feeling that the person who was searching for this jewel might be have formed an alliance with Naraku. After all, another person in search of power thru a jewel would be the perfect ally for him." Shippo sat down next to Miroku and inquired as to what they were talking about. At first they didn't seem like they would answer his query, but in the end answered him.

"Ah, I've heard of that!" he cried to their surprise. "My grandmother spoke of such a thing that she had heard of from her mother! It was called the Chimera of Light, a beautiful diamond that held great power. The gem held many abilities, such as healing, revival of the dead and memories, just to name a few." Miroku leaned in, very interested in not only the story but the gem itself.

"So, it was a real thing then?" Sango inquired. The kitsune nodded, his eyes closing for a moment as he thought about what his grandmother had told him and his siblings all that time ago.

"It was around for longer than that, from what she told me and the queen who welded it was a great woman, strong and yet she was the most kindest person, like her mother before her. It was an heirloom and to my knowledge was around for a long time after that, only disappearing just before my great great grandmother was born. The holder of it finally vanquished the evil that had been hunting for it before also disappearing with it. Some say that she was the princess and that only the family members could wield the true power of it."

"Then the evil is gone?" Kaede asked as she stirred the soup again, mauling over the information. He shook his head.

"No, that evil was defeated, but grandmother said that someone had been backing that woman, she was a queen and her ally was also one, the main one a queen of the dark forces. She was a human at one point, but had sold her soul to become more powerful."

"Like Naraku?" Inuyasha asked, finally joining the conversation. "Except she doesn't sound like him as she isn't a half breed, is she?" Shippo shook his head.

"No, she was a witch in a demon's body, but it was never proved if she died with the queen or if she just went into hiding." This was indeed interesting. If she were just in hiding then she might have joined forces with the great evil of Naraku. After all, they would need each other, wouldn't they? Though it made no sense in the aspect that Naraku was a loner, preferring to use his own incarnations to do his deeds or even using others outside of that recently. Would he make a partner with another demon when he wanted all the power of the Shikon for himself.

"What was her name, Shippo?" Miroku asked.

"Hmmm, grandmother said her name, but I can't recall what it was...Muko?" Knocking himself in the head he stood up to think, pacing a bit for a second before saying, "No, not Muko..." Again, he paced some more, trying to wrack his brain for the information he was asked about. "Kokū no joō! That's what she was called!"

"The Queen of the Void?" Kaede asked in shock. She had heard of this name, though she had never heard of her rampage. This woman had been human, a young one that had almost been chosen to become a priestess several hundreds of years ago. In her own training she had been taught about the ones in the past that had failed and what they had done to be forced out of their training. She had been an evil young woman, wanting to become more powerful using the information from her training to aid in her evil deeds. She had been found out and thrust out from the school, but when she had been released from them she had gone on a killing spree, killing others to take their powers, other priestesses had fallen to her until she had been captured. "I do know of this woman, but she was rumored to have been killed after they caught her! She was a mighty evil young woman, her yearning for power a powerful incentive to kill other Mikos and priestesses so many years ago."

"Was she like Tsubaki?" Miroku inquired to which Kaede shook her head.

"No, she was far worse. She didn't care about such trivial things as age or beauty as she was a beautiful woman, but power, that was something that she hungered for and when killing others gave her that she went on a rampage. The people trapped her with the help of several of those she was hunting, the priestesses and Mikos came together to bring her down. After capturing her they killed her and sealed her body in a place that no one even remembers now, though she should be easy to find since evil seems to kill the land that it is buried on, like Naraku left that spot in the cave where he died." Now that they had an idea of whom they were looking for and where she could be buried based off the landscape they need only look for a place that matched that description.


	30. Chapter 30

Kagome couldn't seem to fight it, all the images that were thrust at her and the voices that filled her mind with worry, with doubt and with so many negative emotions. She knew none of it was true, not a words or the images were true! They were playbacks of her life in the both the feudal era and her own time. She could see her mother at the top of the well, after that night, looking down at her with concern and when she had finally come to the top of the well the words she spoke, her body shaking with fear that only seemed to magnify itself when her mother scorned her.

Her mother called her a whore, claiming that she should have never let her go thru the well everyday where she couldn't keep her in line. Her mother wailed that she had done all she could as a mother, raising her child the best she could being that she had lost her husband and was left to carry on the burden of raising her kids alone. She accused Kagome of failing in her task of being the best daughter, that she had failed her for so long, even going as far as claiming that Kagome had been fucking all sorts of men while on the other side of the well. She had shoved her back down the well, claiming she had no daughter and when Kagome had opened her eyes on the other side she found her friends there glaring at her, Sango claiming that she had betrayed them all, Miroku asking her if now that she was broken in if he could have a taste! Kaede looked at her in disappointment, telling her that she was no longer pure while Shippo just seemed confused as to why she would want to defile herself when she wasn't mated.

It was such a strange sight to see the small kitsune ask her such a vulgar question, but then again seeing Miroku look at her as if she were a piece of meat with Sango standing so close by watching all felt wrong and then there was Inuyasha. He glared down at her, looking so pissed off that his eyes changed red for a moment until Kikyo came to his side, her touch soothing him in the way that Kagome had only been able to do. All the others hurt, but watching as the Hanyou that she loved kissed Kikyo, pulling her flush against him with a soft moan, killed her. She knew that part was true. He had loved the Miko, even if in the end he thrust her away. That was because she was a clay doll now, not a living, breathing, human like Kagome. He still yearned for the other woman to be by his side. He wished she were still alive because then he could resume a normal with her on their side. After all, she didn't belong here, even Kikyo had told her that. Inuyasha had told her that too! Then he had made lo- no, he had had sex with her.

Had he seen Kikyo in her during that night? Had the sake clouded his judgement? She could see that night as she walked thru the courtyard and into the hot springs. It had sounded so nice on that night, her body warm with the warmth of the sake, and the feel of the warm body had only seemed to consume her. She had felt like cooked noodles, like the ones that Inuyasha liked. She had felt like Ramen and he had eaten her up in the same manner. He had savored her whole body, but she couldn't recall if there had been words that night other than her own moans and his. Then she had woken up on the lawn! How had she gotten there and where had he gone? Had he regretted it right after and while she had passed out had snuck out? He had marked her and according to all that seemed to have that knowledge, that was permanent unless another claimed her, but if it stuck then she had accepted it and she had. She loved Inuyasha, how could she not accept his mark? Did that mean the same for him? Had he claimed her because of his own feelings for her or had he seen her as Kikyo in that state?

It was all too much and her heart was hurting, her body ached with pain at the thought that he would leave her if given the chance, that all of that night had been nothing but a mistake! Her children, the ones that had been the gift she had never thought she would get from her one true love, her first love, were going to be seen as a mistake! Inuyasha had already been upset with the fact that she had conceived, but he had seemed unaware that they were his pups and while that alone was heartbreaking she recalled something she had seen on tv all that time ago. Sure, it had been a cartoon, but the patient in it had amnesia, selective amnesia and he had forgotten his wife but not his kids or family otherwise. It had been because of something bad that had transpired between them, something the doctor claimed his mind refused to remember because of the pain or guilt associated with her that had led to his accident. But Inuyasha hadn't been hurt directly after they had had sex, had he? Then again there was the possibility that he had been too drunk to remember and probably thought it was all a dream with Kikyo as the star of his wet dream. It was all possible and with that revelation she felt her body grow colder, weaker, numb with the idea that he didn't want to remember what they had shared.

The only thing she could feel at that moment was the warm aura of her children. They were all that mattered at this time, and they would be the only thing she would live for, even if she lived as an evil being. She could live with that as long as her gift, her babies were all alive and then... then she would do whatever needed to be done for them to be free, even if she had to stay in this dark castle. Even if she had to allow Naraku to keep her.

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It took them over five days to reach the village where all the death was happening and during that time Inuyasha began to grow more and more irritated, a reason he couldn't even explain. It was like his emotions were all out of wack again and yet his emotions had been all over the place for a while now. He couldn't figure it out at all and the others were becoming more upset with his strange attitude. Sesshomaru, who had rejoined them on the way to the village with his own bit of information as to who was keeping Naraku hidden wasn't the least bit surprising, save for the fact of what this woman could do. Shippo hadn't had much information on her and neither had Kaede for that matter, only knowing what had transpired before her death which was now known to be fraudulent. "The woman whom she controlled was once a servant of the very queen that held the diamond. Her name was Morganite. She was a beauty herself, but as she worked for the queen she held no real title."

"And she did this all for the love of a man? One that one sided since he was betrothed and in love with the princess?" Sango inquired. The dog demon nodded, frowning slightly as he recalled all that he had heard from his mother regarding this woman. She had been around when this alliance had been formed, on of the people, that while not there when the great battle had taken place, had heard of the tragedies that happened on another continent.

"Tobikomu was the name of the man, a prince. He loved the princess who fell in love with him upon first meeting him. Morganite fell in love with him when she saw him waiting for the princess one night. She was jealous that the princess was to be his bride instead of her, though even at that time of first seeing him she believed him to be in love with her and only wanted to become more powerful with such an alliance. It wasn't uncommon for such an occurrence to happen in royal families, at least in human relationships and some demons." Miroku nodded. It was true that in some marriages that were arranged for the spouses to take on lovers, the woman only allowed this after producing an heir or two. If she were to have done it before then their claim to the household was weak since there was no way to prove the child's father. "When the dark Queen came upon her, wanting to take over the princess's kingdom for the wrong that had been done against her clan when they tried once before to decimate that same kingdom, she was only too happy to do it if she could have the prince."

"So she was only a human as well?"

"She was human in the end as well, only living as long as she had by the dark Queen's will. She didn't have to do any of the dirty work as she had legions to do that for her, the pawns that were of no known entity. Neither human or demon. They are true monsters." Inuyasha snorted. Humans, so easy to manipulate for their weak emotions, but then again the woman he loved was human and although she was an emotional one at that she had never let herself be manipulated by those emotions, though no one had really gotten too much of a chance to do that besides the dark Miko, Tsubaki, and even she hadn't succeeded because Kagome had been much stronger than her. She was the most powerful Miko, which had made her a more valuable target than even Kikyo had ever been.

"We're here," the Hanyou stated as they came over a small hill to view what could only be described as grim. Not even the village of Sango, nor that of Minako had been this bad. Death filled the air, and not only of the people, no, this was death of the land that stretched out before them in a black desolate color. There wasn't any grass on this land, just what appeared to be a burnt survivor of it with no sign or smell of such destruction. It was as if the land had just given up, dying when nothing was around to ravish it to that point. Beyond that was the village, or what was left of the village. The strangest thing was there wasn't a single body, not a drop of blood, just blackened huts as if they too had been burnt, but they were still standing tall, still intact in such a strange manner. And what was stranger still was the fact that it was isolated to just that village, a circle of destruction and the scent of death. "What the fuck happened here?"

"The Queen of the Void happened," Sesshomaru stated.

"Probably best that we left Shippo and Rin back with Kaede," Sango stated. After what he and Kaede had said about the one that might be responsible for the absence of Naraku they had thought it best that the younger ones stayed behind. Shippo had thrown a mild fit, Rin had nodded at their decision and Jake, well, Jaken had been all too happy to remain away from such a person, even though he had tried to hide it. No one would ever want to see what they were looking at, much less experience it for themselves first hand. "Where are the bodies? The blood that would even reveal the destruction that obviously took place here?" No one had an answer, not for the smells that came from the site itself much less the absence of the bodies that would normally be left in such a place.

"We can do nothing here," Sesshomaru stated, looking around the massive black mark for any signs of where it had come from with no clue leading away from the village. He moved to survey the sight, the others following suit as they looked for footprints, maybe blood that was further away from the hamlet itself, but there was nothing. Not a trace of whoever had done this, even though they knew who was in charge of what happened to these people.

"There's nothing here," Inuyasha stated, looking at the others for their input, all of them agreeing that there was nothing here to point out who had done this and what had happened to the village and the occupants that were missing. "Do you think they killed them?" Sesshomaru shook his head.

"No, she turned them into her monsters, I'm sure of that. Once she rises it is said that she will rebuild her army and humans tend to fill that spot, becoming monsters with none of their human side left." Sango was confused about that. What good were humans with no powers. Why not take a demon to fill a monster's spot because they were far more powerful and would make a better fighter in the long run. "Demons are not easily controlled by someone like her. She is still a spiritual creature, even if she is dark. She would find human hearts more mailable to her needs whereas Naraku used others with the promise of power or the jewel itself. Giving neither. With the taking of a human she would need to promise nothing. Just find malice in their heart or turn their soul with her power."

"She's that powerful?" the monk inquired, to which Sesshomaru nodded. "How have so few heard of her?"

"It didn't happen in Japan, the original battles anyway. She may have moved here after the last battle, which I was told took place up north in the cold where she was said to have stationed herself for better coverage." That made sense as even now there were few tales of anyone that wanted to live in such a cold and barren place. The only thing you might get up there is fishing, but there was no place to grow crops or any other means of survival and if hunger didn't kill you then the isolation itself could drive a sane person crazy. Then there was the cold temperature itself, which was deadly for warm blooded beings. "I don't know where the other battle was, but she wasn't stationed there, only sending her minions to fight to find the diamond." When all was said and done they headed onward, hoping that the next village they found wasn't decimated like this one and if it was that it meant they were going down the right path.

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Naraku entered the lower chamber, his red eyes falling on the small woman still encased in the darkness that swirled over her. She wasn't moving anymore, her frame was still, sweat covering her pale face with a slight flush dusting her cheeks. She looked as though she were sick, her clothing sticking to her body like a second skin and enhancing the slightly larger swell of her stomach. She didn't look that far along, but with how her body had changed since he had seen her last, before he had captured her, he felt that other things had changed for her. Maybe the babies would be here sooner seeing as she had healed so quickly when his demons had attacked her. "She is ready," came the Queen's voice, rasping delightfully from the shadows before she stepped out from in front of him, the only thing separating them being the tomb that held the Miko.

"That didn't take long," he said, unsure if she was wrong as he had been unable to break thru the Miko's tough interior no matter how many times he had done it. The baby hadn't been able to break her, even noticing that there was a darkness in her heart that she had been able to push away as nothing more than a human's folly, jealousy. "Are yo-" Her laughter broke thru his words, silencing him with how dark that laugh was.

"As I told you to remember, Abyss. I am more powerful and as such have an easier time breaking others, even this pure woman here and she is pure. She makes me sick with how pure she is, but with purity there is still a way to break them. Using that purity against them." She reached out to touch the dark barrier over Kagome, her fingers reaching thru it like it were a black wave that washed over her hands. "And her purity is her Achilles heel if you will. She wants to protect those that she loves, those people that are coming for her and those that are not yet born. She wants to protect them and in that she will be her own downfall." Another laugh broke out from her lips. "Even now she gives herself over to the dark side in hopes that she can trade herself for her babies." Her green eyes locked with his red ones. "That you will give them freedom to leave this place if she stays by your side and adheres to all your wishes."

"She would give up her life, the mate that she has just realized is that blasted Hanyou she claims to love, just to protect their babies?" Now he wanted to chuckle at that. It was futile. He didn't care about her wants. No, he wanted it all. The children would be far more powerful than any spawn he had so why would he give them up? "Then she truly is an idiot." If Onigumo had still been a part of him, his human heart would have wept for this love. He had never seen any love in his life. His parents hadn't really wanted him since he had been a mistake in their eyes. They had used him to keep up their land, feeding him very little in the way of food and he hadn't been treated like their son. He had been treated more like an outsider to their family. No other children were born to their family, not until after he had run away from them at the age of 12. He had heard that they had had another child, another son, and he had been treated like a god. Raised to tend to the household with no backbreaking work.

He had always wondered on that. They weren't a poor family, just middle classed with a plot of land large enough to keep them well fed and given more of the finer things in life, but he had been treated like one of their slaves. He had been nothing to them. After running around doing dirty deeds for money since he had been young enough to get away with it with little in the way of punishment, he had joined a gang. They rode the countryside pillaging and robbing any who crossed their path until he had made a fatal mistake that had nearly cost him his life. The man whom he had wronged had tried to kill him. Letting him get caught in a fire and when that hadn't killed him, had thrown him off a cliff in hopes that that would end his miserable existence. Even that had failed and then as if given a silver lining of his dark cloud the very woman he had sent the other male after had found him, nursing him even though he was a broken man. He would never be strong. He was weak in body while still strong in mind, but that would matter not to any woman or man. He couldn't move, laying there in that cave had been pure torture. He could no longer wreak havoc on those that he wanted to, forced to stop it all and wait for death.

Kikyo should have killed him, let him die where he had fallen. Smirking he recalled the day that he had allowed the demons to consume him. He had yearned, no, lusted for what he would never have been given in that broken body. A chance to not only take the Shikon no Tama and the chance to taint it, but the ability to take the Miko that guarded it. He had wanted to kill her again after that first slice into her body, he wanted to do it in his new form, not that of the Hanyou that she had thought had forsaken her. No, he would show her just before raping her and then killing her that she had fucked up in thinking the worse of a male who would have followed her to the ends of the earth. The Queen stepped back as the raven haired woman sat up, her eyes opening to reveal that they had changed to a grey blue, like a cloudy day. She looked at them with such a dull color and even Naraku found himself marveling at her change. She no longer looked like a woman full of life like her chocolate brown eyes had often betrayed. Now her soul was dimmed and thus her eyes reflected her toned down energy.

"Time for her to bring her friends to us," the Queen said with a malicious glint in her eyes. "With a little destruction courtesy of our little lady here."


	31. Chapter 31

It was just past noon when the group found the next village, a village that was still intact at the moment, the villagers moving around in the way they should have been at the other village. Some of them tended the crops that were on the other side of the village while others still moved around their huts, the sounds of children laughing as they ran by a song in the air as the smell of food cooking was strong in the air. It was peaceful, so that meant that either the person or creature that had been responsible for the death of the other village had yet to reach this one or that this was in the opposite direction of where the castle that supposingly was the stronghold for the person responsible for the destruction. That didn't mean that this place was safe, maybe for now, but not forever, not if they didn't destroy this person, this queen. A woman stopped what she was doing, her hut being the closest to them, laying the carpet beater down next to a basket full of carpets and other fabrics.

"Wow, you're a strange group," the woman said, her brown eyes moving over the group, taking in whom was there. She didn't seem afraid of them, perhaps she had heard of their group or maybe she was able to see that even with demons in their group they were not any danger to her or the small child, about seven, that now peeked around the edge of her kimono. "I had heard of such a group, though," she paused as she looked up at Sesshomaru, his golden gaze looking back at her in disinterest. "Never heard of an Inu-youkai in the group, save for the Hanyou." This time she looked at Inuyasha, who was no longer seeming agitated, his mood coming to rest at a neutral tone.

"You don't seem to concerned with us," the monk stated. "Even people who have heard of us don't seem to like the fact that we are not all human." She chuckled at this. "Did I say something funny?" he asked with a touch to the back of his raven hair.

"We aren't all human here either," she said, looking down at the small girl beside her. That's when they all noticed that this girl had orange eyes, like a cat with a slight slit in them. Her skin was that of the woman standing before them, a slightly pale tone with just enough color to show she came out in the sunshine. "This is my daughter, her father is a tiger youkai, though he is off fighting to protect another village right now. All the younger men and our youkai mates are off trying to stave off the strange destruction that has been plaguing a good part of our countryside."

"So you've all seen it?" Sango inquired as she smiled down at the small girl who shyly smiled back, her fangs glinting in the sun. The woman nodded.

"Oh, where are my manners," she said with a slight giggle. "My name is Niko and this is Yuma. And I haven't seen it myself, but a villager from a village just back from where you came from is here. She came to us for refuge after escaping from the tormentor of her home." Turning away from them she knelt down to her child. After a few words she turned back to them, her child rushing off. "Karina is just a kid herself, I think fifteen or sixteen, and when she came to us it had to have been early morning. Just yesterday in fact." She looked sad for a moment, as if thinking about what the girl had seen. "She had gone off to gather some firewood for her mother, leaving her younger sibling at home when the creature attacked."

"Was it a monster?" Miroku asked, watching behind her as another female with the small girl returned. This girl had dark brown hair, cut short and falling around her face as she conversed with the small child. Her skin was darker, more tan than either the woman before them or the child beside her.

"That would certainly explain its strange form since I know most demons in the area and this one looked nothing like a demon I had ever heard of." She seemed thoughtful for a moment, recalling what the monster had looked like. "She told me that it came from the forest, a cherry blossom tree was the form she first saw as she approached the village from the other side." This seemed to interest Sesshomaru as he spoke up, surprising the group with his fascination at her words.

"A cherry blossom? I have never heard of such a thing. Is she sure that is what she saw?" He was interested in what she had to say, but seemed to be in disbelief of those same words. The woman nodded, but before she had a chance to speak the small child was back and the girl that was with her spoke up, almost venomously at his lack of belief.

"I know what I saw!" she cried out, drawing the attention of others close by. "I had not seen that tree before as our village wasn't anywhere near that kind of tree," her voice growing softer with the more she spoke, as if she hadn't wanted to draw attention to herself, a fear that was prevalent in her tone told them that much. She was afraid that this monster would come for her if it knew where she was. "It didn't even seem to move when the first scream came."

"Then how do you know that it was the tree?" Inuyasha asked. "It could have very well been someone that was in th-"

"Because it changed!" she hissed in a low tone. "First it looked like a woman as it transformed right before my eyes!" She closed her eyes as tears began to well up. Niko put an arm around the girl, whispering soothing words to get her more comfortable to talk about what she had seen. "She seemed to twist out of the trunk of the tree and at the same time the tree became her. Her eyes were teal and her skin was almost a silver tone, but softer. Her hair was as pink as the cherry blossoms and she wore a rather intricate kimono that showed off her legs...legs that were still part of the roots of that tree."

"She was using her roots to kill the villagers," Miroku stated, sure that he was right. She shook her head.

"She wasn't killing them," she said softly.

"There wasn't any blood, remember?" Sango asked the monk. "If she had killed them on the land then there would have been blood."

"She absorbed them," Karina said sadly. "Her roots came up from the ground and wrapped themselves around them, squeezing them before they began to glow. The-eir bodies just began to s-shrival up an-" A sob broke free as she fell to the ground. "She just drained them! Th-hey blew away like d-dust in the wind!" Niko kneeled down, telling the girl she could go back and lay down, Yuma running off to get help for the girl. As soon as she was taken away Niko turned to them.

"And that isn't the first sighting of this creature either. There were no survivors to that village, but my mate saw it. He could feel no soul from it and it didn't seem to be afraid of them even when they finally struck it down."

"So it's gone then?" She nodded.

"But with every one that you strike down another one appears. Sadly, he has struck down at least five in the last few days, but they can only do so much until the source is taken care of. Until then more villages will fall until we find it." Silence fell over the group. They knew that Naraku had something to do with this, but the absorption was new. He didn't absorb humans. They were weak in his eyes so this must be his ally's doing. This queen needed that energy while Naraku just used demons to become more powerful. It was strange that none of the demons seemed to be affected by these monsters.

"What about demons?" Inuyasha asked. He was thinking the same thing they were. If there were demons being taken then that meant Naraku was also in on this.

"The monsters seem to care little about the demons killing them, unless they get in their way, but even then they just kill them. They don't seem to want their energy. The good thing is that the monsters are weak, at least now, so my mate and his men are able to strike them down with very little resistance." Miroku looked lost in thought as he listened to her words. If the demons were not targets did that mean that Naraku no longer needed them or that he was already long gone? He looked down at his hand and could tell that his kazaana was still there. He could feel it in his skin, so that meant that Naraku was still alive.

"What direction did your mate go to fight more of the monsters?" Sesshomaru questioned. She pointed back to where they had just come from.

"He went past the village that Karina came from. We're the lucky ones since when we were attacked our men were ready and not the target of the monster. Most of this village is Hanyou and demon since most of our spouses are demon." With thanks they headed off, back to where they came in hopes of finding these demons to aid them in not only destroying the monsters that were trashing the lands, but to find the source... The Queen of the Void and possibly Naraku.

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A lone figure approached a village just a few short hours away from the castle, her long raven hair swirled in the winds as it brushed the back of her knees. Her long dress was nothing like the clothing that others wore, not a kimono and not the attire she had worn just a few hours ago. Her skin was paler than it had ever been, giving her the appearance that she was just a corpse with only the flush on her pale cheeks to show that she was alive. The dress she wore was a long midnight blue one with a silver trim that almost matched her eyes that looked out dully at the landscape before her. There was a slit up both sides of this outfit that stopped just below her hips to allow her movement should she need to fight and after all that was what she was about to do. She wore no shoes, but the gravelly road held no pain to her bare feet with her latest transformation, like the ears that were pointed out from her hair, her skin still felt smooth and soft, but now were more durable. Even the slight chill to the air didn't bother her, though her arms were bare with almost a tank top like fit to the top of the dress. Looking up at the sun she shielded her eyes, taking in the time as being well past noon.

She could hear nothing around her, no birds singing in the skies or trees blowing in the wind that once again stirred her hair and dress with the power it held. It was nothing to her since none of it seemed to reach her. She felt like she was in a bubble, no sense of feeling or hearing. She could feel that she was walking and she knew she was outside, free from the darkness of the castle, but she wasn't truly free. She had given in to the darkness, the words of her friends still echoing in her head and the look of absolute hate from the man who was supposed to be her mate in her line of sight, but he wasn't here and if he was then he wasn't here to save her. No, he wanted to kill Naraku. The only reason he was here was to get the jewel so he could make that one wish that would truly make him happy. The revival of a Miko that was not her. Was she even a Miko anymore? She wasn't pure, not in any way that she could name. She held no happiness in her, no joy to be outside the castle walls. If anything she felt suffocated outside in the wide open spaces, unsafe from dangers that would befall her if she were not careful. She was exposed out here and while she didn't like the darkness when she had first came to that place she found that she missed it.

It meant freedom to her. Freedom to hide away, to stay far from those that would hurt her or her babies. Her fingers unconsciously touched her rounded stomach and she longed to run back to the castle, to tell the woman whom had sent her out here that she didn't want to do this. She didn't want to confront them, to kill them even if they had hurt her. She just wanted to be left alone in solitude. She just wanted to raise her babies alone. They would love her when no one else did. They would receive her love no matter what happened. Their father would not be in the picture and Naraku, she would kill him before he had a chance to even think of corrupting them. She would see that they were given to someone she could trust once they were born. That would be her way to love them in the beginning. To protect them. That was the best she could offer at this moment. When she was freed from the Queen and Naraku then she would run off and get them. But that begged the answer to that question. Who did she trust?

Amazingly enough her mate was the first one to come to mind, but she thrust it away. He wasn't one to trust with pups that he would hate because they came from her and not Kikyo. They were not safe in his care as she truly had not been in a long time. Inuyasha would run off and leave them exposed if he could get just a few minutes from his dead lover. He had wanted to go to Hell with her after all. Why did this all feel backwards, like she had taken these steps before and had come to the same conclusion. That she had only been his shard detector and when all the shards had been gathered they had become companions searching to rid the world of evil. She may not trust him, but she saw him as she saw him and as he should be... a friend. No, there was one person who had never turned their back on her. "Koga."

She would find him even if it meant that she would have to go back. The queen had been quite straight forward about what would happen if she tried to run. That would be a problem. Finding him when he didn't have the jewel shards in his legs anymore and she knew, somehow, that she was several days away from any of them. This land was leaking out death, so she also knew without a doubt that he would soon join in this fight when he came with the others, if Inuyasha hadn't thrown him out of their pack. They never could get along and while his sometimes flirtatious ways bothered her she knew he was a good friend. He cared about if she was hurt, even when the hurt wasn't physical. He had seen her when Inuyasha had hurt her and even when she had defended the Hanyou he had still been all about protecting, telling her that she should stop letting him hurt her. He knew that she didn't see in him a mate, a partner, but he still loved her and longed for her to be happy. Sometimes I wish that I could love him like he loves me. It was a fleeting thought because she couldn't see anyone else by her side but Inuyasha.

Maybe she was just being stubborn or maybe she was being obsessive. Wasn't that what it was called when you were blinded by nothing but one thing or person and failing to even give anyone else attention or a chance with you? It wasn't too late to give it a try was it? Sure, there was the wolf girl that loved him, had professed to be his intended, but he had denied wanting her. Was it right for her to ruin another's chance because you were hurt? No, that wasn't fair to either of them. She would talk to Koga when she saw him. Looking up she found the village she was supposed to decimate and her pace slowed. She didn't want to destroy this place. She didn't want to drain their lifeforce!

You will do as you are told, came a voice in her head, the woman's voice that of her master, her keeper. She longed to rebel against it, but knew that she could not. The winds changed and a new scent hit her sensitive nose. Demons. There were demons in this village? Taking a sniff of the air she found there were not only demons, but Hanyous as well. She had known of one village that had had a Hanyou in it, but not demons. The humans of that village had hated demons, even shunning the human woman who had slept with one so what was up with this village?

"There are demons and Hanyous in this village," she said out loud, knowing that the Queen would hear her. There was a scoff at the other end.

Kill them then, they are not good fodder for my needs. Do not forget that I hold your life and therefor the lives of your children in my hands. Do not hesitate to do what I have commanded, Miko. The connection was cut and Kagome sighed. She would have no choice and seconds passed before she began to walk again, the monster that was to be hers to command walking up to her from the direction of the village.

"The Queen wants all but the humans to die, do not absorb any of the demons or Hanyous."

"How will I know which ones are half breeds, Mistress?" She winced at that term. Sure, she was their mistress since she was in command over them, but she hated to be that, to be in that position.

"Any of the younger ones bring to me and I shall check if they are human or Hanyou." Nodding the woman before her, not really a woman abet in appearance, her long black dress slit down the front that complimented her daring black eyes. She had beautiful wings that were the colors of ash, held up with silver claws that rose up from her back. Kagome had yet to see how they stole people's life or the carnage they had left behind and she didn't want to... and yet she would be the person that assisted in creating that carnage, another part of her soul darkening with the thought. She was truly not pure anymore. Not a Miko either.

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Kaede stiffened in her position by the fire, the food in the pot forgotten as she looked over into the corner of the room where Kagome's big yellow bag sat. Some of the stuff had been removed, a small satchel had been filled with some of the needed items such as the pot that the young woman kept with her to boil water and a good portion of the rice they had brought back was sitting next to it while the other items in the bag were not needed without the woman from the future was being held captive. There was something there though. Something she hadn't felt the entire time that the bag had been left in her care, but that had changed. There was something dark in that bag. Grabbing her bow and an arrow she moved slowly toward the bag, wary of what was causing such a darkness to fill her hut.

As she was reaching out, her bow and arrow in one hand the flap to her hut shifted and Rin with Shippo in tow appeared. "What is wrong Kaede?" the small girl asked, looking at her in confusion, Shippo noting her tense form and how she seemed to have jumped when they had entered. He could also smell the unease that seemed to be coming from the older woman. She looked back at them and then back at the bag.

"Shippo, will ye and Rin assist me with something,?" she asked, moving the arrow into her other hand. He nodded, Rin voicing her acceptance to help in whatever she could. "Stand on each side of the bag, but do not touch anything in it," she instructed. Both children obeyed, moving to stand on either side of the bag, but she could see that they were curious as to her instructions. "There is something dark in that bag and I am unsure if it means us harm or not." The kitsune took a sniff of the bag, the stale scent of Kagome and Inuyasha still clinging to the yellow material of the bag, but he could smell nothing alive coming from the bag itself.

"Nothing is alive in there," he said, pointing out why he knew that.

"It's not something alive that I fear, child," she clarified. "There is just a darkness... an evil that I feel coming from inside it. When I tell ye to I want ye to turn it over and back away quickly." The kitsune felt that this was strange all the way around. Why not just move the contents around? He knew that Kagome kept her school books in there with a few changes of clothing as well as bath supplies, but he nodded and when she gave the word they turned it over and back up as everything tumbled to the floor. It was all there as he had known it would be, but then he noted that Kaede still approached it slowly, using her arrow to push one of Kagome's shirts out of the way to reveal...

"Is that the jewel?" Rin asked softly, looking at the partially black chunk that appeared from under the shirt. Kaede nodded, unsure if she could even touch the portion of the darkened jewel herself. She wasn't like her sister or Kagome. She could not purify the jewel and so now they were in a dilemma on what to do with. It was still in the small jar that the Miko had kept it in when it had been but shards, but even that was no protection if the energy of evil were too strong and with her it was.

"What does that mean?" Shippo inquired, fear shaking his tone.

"I don't truly know, but if it is the one scenario I have in my mind it is not looking well for Kagome." The three of them looked down at the jar with worry.


	32. Chapter 32

The group had barely left the small village merely forty five minutes ago, not even an hour when a cry of pain pierced the air, all head swiveling toward the sound. "Was that from the village?" Sango asked, looking to Miroku for her answer. He nodded. It had sounded like it was that village, but what could have happened in such a short amount of time. They hadn't passed anyone on the road heading that way and Niko had said that her mate had headed this way, that the darkness seemed to be coming from this direction. Could she have been wrong? Not about him going this way, but about the evil coming from this direction? Inuyasha didn't wait for anyone, rushing back to where they had just come from with the feeling that Kagome was there. He didn't know why he felt that way when it just as easily could have been one of those monsters, finally coming back for what they had lost at the last village and the chance to finally take the lives of the village they had been unable to destroy due to the demons that lived there and protected it. They would need to rush if they wanted to be there to stop it and without the hinderance of the two children that shouldn't be too hard.

He had only made it a few miles when a monster, one that resembled a rather strange bull or something of the sort, its red eyes narrowed with a smirk on its blue lips. The whole creature was blue while the skin tight outfit it wore was a red fur that covered most of her body. It was a girl, one could tell that just by the face, not that the fact that it had breasts wasn't enough of a giveaway. "Ah, more prey," she said, licking her lips. "Too bad that only two of you are worth anything while you two delicious looking men are nothing but a good kill." Sesshomaru looked bemused that it thought it could kill him that easily, not that it would be much of a challenge to kill. After all that was what that human had said, that none of these monsters were all that strong. Whipping out his poisonous whip he lashed out, the horns of the creature extending to push him back as it wound around her horns. Before his whip could burn into the bone of her horns though he felt his energy draining, though it wasn't enough to put him out of commission anytime soon he knew what the woman had been talking about. His power was draining away, but she didn't seem to care too much about him as she thrust him away and into a tree, turning her attention onto Miroku who was the closest to her. Whipping her head back, her red hair flipping back with the action she ran at him, intent on taking his energy when Sango thrust into her with her boomerang, the bone made from demons reacting to the energy coming off of the now amped up monster.

This wasn't going to be an easy battle, not if she could capture them at a distance and take their energy as she had Sesshomaru who was already up and more pissed off than ever that he had been caught so easily.

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While the battle between the group and the monster continued on just a few miles away from their destination Kagome stood by the sidelines in the village, watching with a dull expression that flickered with sadness as the monster she had been left with devoured the humans of the village, a second monster having joined because of the Hanyou and demons that were in the village. A small girl, just barely seven watched with worried orange eyes full of fear as her mother was drained right before her eyes, her body becoming thin and frail with every second that passed. She had been lucky, like the girl from the other village. She had stepped out of the village chasing a bright blue butterfly only mere feet into the forest when the first scream filled the skies. Turning to see a raven haired woman approaching with a winged creature next to her she had hidden behind the thick trunk of the tree to her right. She wanted to run to her mother's aid, but fear kept her hidden, watching as her mother faded into nothing, her body hitting the ground with a thud before sinking into the ground. She noted that the ground where the bodies were falling became as dead as the bodies that covered it, the ground becoming black with death. The grass died and the mud seemed to darken.

She had heard of this happening from her father so she knew that this woman with the strange creature were in fact the monsters that were killing demons and taking the life force of the humans that were in each of the villages. She feared that her father would not make in time to save the rest of the villagers as each body hitting the ground sounded louder and louder in her ears, but then she looked at the raven haired woman. She was not like that creature, no, she looked like a Hanyou with her pointed ears or maybe a fairy like those in the stories her mother would tell her at bedtime. She tried to hold back the sob that threatened to spill forth from the thought that her mother would never read to her again, that her father would mourn her loss and possibly like most mated demons, die from the heartbreak of losing his mate. It was a rare occurrence for a mate to live long after the passing of the other. Would her father leave her behind as well? Giving herself a mental shake she tried to do as her father and mother had always asked of her. I have to be strong. She would aid her father and get revenge for her mother. Making sure to get all the information she could about this woman who stood off to the side, she wondered as to why the woman was there.

She wasn't doing any of the killing and seemed tense at the murders that were taking place in front of her and while she seemed upset at what she was viewing she also seemed to be detached. Something about her looked familiar, but the coloring of her eyes was wrong. The Miko that she had heard about before had brown eyes, the one that had been missing from the pack that had just left their group. The pack! They couldn't have gone far and she longed to run to them for aid, but knowing that if she made one sound the monster might hear her she stayed still, more ponderings about the woman with them causing far more questions than she had answers for. The other monster with them was shoving the younger inhabitants of the village toward this woman now, her grey blue eyes looking down at them with unconcealed pity.

"Are these ones Hanyou?" the monster asked almost irritated with the task given her. Yuma watched as the raven haired woman leaned forward, her nose just above the young child's head, his whimpers growing louder as he looked up at the woman with fear in his large brown eyes. She shook her head, turning from the child to look away from the direction of Yuma. Another one was thrust before her, this one was a bird Hanyou, his black eyes narrowed in anger even as his small body shook.

"He's Hanyou," the woman stated, a sad tone to her voice after scenting him. Before another word was spoken the monster decapitated the kid, his blood splattering on Kagome. She paled further if that was possible, wincing as she looked down at the blood on her blue dress, almost looking horrified to see her dress ruined or was it because of the blood, the death of the child? Yuma watched this with interest, her fear pushed back so she could pay better attention, though when the kid was killed she almost let out a whimper of her own. That was her friend, Kino. She had grown up with him and had become close since he was just a year younger than her. He was like a brother that she never had. How could they do this? She had known there was evil out there, look at the demons out there that killed their breed because of the mating between demons and humans, but this woman, she was human and demon, but not like a Hanyou, the scent in the wind told her of that and yet she held the smell of demon as well. It was strange to her because even though her mother had mated with a demon she held his scent and while they intermingled this scent from the woman was different.

Yuma watched as more children were slaughtered until the girl from the other village appeared before the woman, her eyes downcast as she shook with the fear that she would be killed as well, though not quickly as she was human and would die as her own mother and brother had before her. She would suffer a long death as her energy was drained. There was a crashing sound off in the distance or so it sounded, but suddenly the pack that had been there earlier was back, blood and the scent of death clinging to their bodies as the began a quick attack on the monster that was draining another human, its body thrown from its prey and to the ground. Yuma was watching them with relief and failed to notice that Kagome's eyes had widened in fear with relief as she backed away toward the side of a hut. Inuyasha glancing that way as the winds mixed all the scents around, hers falling into it to a point that it almost diluted it. He moved to where she had been standing only stopping for a second when he saw the bodies of the children, the one girl still standing there in fear as she fell to her knees. The monster behind her was looking at him with anger and joy. Seemed that she wanted a real battle, not the mindless slaughtering of humans and demons.

Stepping back the children ran to his side, hiding behind him as Sango and Miroku came over to attend to them, Sesshomaru looking around at the carnage, at the lack of blood save for the blood of Hanyous and demons that colored the dark ground with a splash of red. He sneered at the remains, repulsed at the death of such young children, some that even reminded him of his own ward with their dark hair and small size. This monster had killed them for the fact that they didn't fit their needs. It was so like him and yet, he would never had killed a child, no matter if they were human or demon. He might be cold, but a killing a child held no honor as they could do little in the way of protecting themselves, even demons were still learning how to survive in the world that they were brought into. He turned his attention to his brother and the monster that was looking at him as if he were a meal just waiting for them to devour it.

Kagome took a step back from what she was sure was to be a battle that would cost the monster its life. They weren't strong enough, she had heard the queen complain about that. They needed more energy from the humans to do real battle, then she would have stronger warriors to hunt for the other half of the jewel and to kill all that she didn't have any need for. She wanted to rule the world and with that she was also searching for something. She had heard them talking about it, Naraku and the Queen about a diamond that she had yearned for, one that was no longer around. It had disappeared and she had no idea where it was, had searched thru the time periods for the item. Kagome wondered as to what it was and if she couldn't find it would she take the Shikon no Tama in its place? Surely Naraku wouldn't allow that since he wanted it for power, then again he no longer really needed it. The Queen had done what he wanted the jewel for... To make him a full bloodied demon with immense power, but now the Queen was stronger than him without the diamond. But then why was she still looking for it?

She would never find that out, not while being captive to the queen because in the end she wasn't under Naraku's rule. Strangely he was in the same situation as her. Wasn't that ironic that while he had taken her captive he had ended up as being a captive as well? Taking another step back she watched as the monster attacked the group and while part of her was drawn to fight along side them not only was she incapable of doing just that but she feared what would happen after all that, when the monster was gone and she were free from her captivity. Not that that would happen so quickly.

Fight. Kagome startled at the voice, the Queen talking to her and she shook her head. Do you want to die? Do you want your babies to die? No, she didn't want them to die, but she couldn't do it. Like before she found herself contemplating taking the only other way out. Dying before she would be forced to fight against the ones she had once called friends. Ah, so you would rather die then confront them? That could be your fate, but I need you for now and since you refuse to fight I shall make you. Suddenly the Miko found herself unable to move, her body feeling like it had that time with Tsubaki as she was forced out of control of her own body, the chill that came with it. As she walked out of the shadows, her eyes narrowed, no longer with sympathy of her targets like she had been feeling only moments before, but with a cold iciness. She turned the corner as the monster was killed, its body falling at her feet. The blood that spilled out of it was the only thing left of it as the body itself disintegrated right before her, shadowing her before her appearance was revealed to the rest of the group.

"Kagome?!" Sango cried as Inuyasha gasped, his heart twisting. Miroku looked up at her cry, his own eyes widening at the woman that stood before them. She was different, the appearance of her similar save for the coldness of her new steely gaze and the aura that came off of her. It was black, with no pink tinge like it usually held. It was like she wasn't the Miko they had travelled with and in a way she wasn't anymore.

"K-Kagome," the Hanyou stuttered out in shock, her lips twisting in such a cruel way that he fell back a step when he wanted to rush to her side, to see if she was okay, to take her back to where she belonged... by his side. She watched him, her eyes chilly as she took them all in, almost dully looking at them as if they meant nothing to her, but that wasn't Kagome. She was never cold like this! "What did he do to you?!" he bellowed, his eyes still watching her with surprise and worry.

"Who?" she asked, her voice so emotionless, flat with disinterest. Her tone could rival that of the older demon next to him who was watching her like she were a specimen that he was trying to pick apart, but he said nothing.

"Naraku of course!" Sango interjected before the Hanyou could answer, his own face frozen in confusion at the tone she was using. "He kidnapped you! Don't you remember that?" Kagome just laughed, her eyes closing slowly for a moment as her smirk fell for a moment.

"Oh, him, he's done nothing to me, except freed me from you," she said, opening her eyes to glare at Inuyasha before turning to the slayer. Miroku moved closer now that the kids were free, running off into the forest next to the village to hide. "After all you were all disgusted with me, refusing to stay by my side once he lied to you, claiming that he was able to taint me. Like I wasn't strong enough to protect myself." Then she sobered up, her cold eyes turning to Inuyasha. "And you, half breed," she continued on, a distasteful tone as she said the word as if it tasted horrible to even speak it. He winced, hurt reflecting in his golden orbs, but she didn't even react. "You have done something that has hurt me more than anyone else here." This wasn't Kagome! None of them bought it for a second, but Sesshomaru was the first to speak, his voice turning colder when he realized what was going on.

"You are not the Miko, Queen of the Void," he stated, the words clipped. No one said anything as she broke out in laughter, but it was a dark and humorless.

"Ah, but she is the Miko, though she really wants nothing to do with any of you," was her response to the surprise of the others, while Sesshomaru just continued to stare her down. "Her body now belongs to me as does the other one you are searching for, though he thinks that he is my equal even as he knows that his power cannot match mine." She touched her stomach finding herself burned by the aura of the unborn pups, her face twisting in anger at the fact that she could do nothing to change the fact that while Kagome herself had given up her body that her babies would not give into her. There were a powerful entity that even she would be weak against once they were born. She was aware that until that time she needed to get them on her side, corrupt them into giving into her or once they were born she would hold no cards against the very powerful woman she was controlling at that moment.

That would be a mistake when that time came as Kagome was way more powerful than she herself was even aware. The Miko could purify her with just a blink of her eyes and it would be over for her. Naraku and she never stood a chance which was why she was happy that he had come to her castle, had brought the Miko with him without even knowing that he had done what she had needed him to do. There was no more diamond for her, but this girl, this woman was the diamond in a way, her powers could match if not outshine the magical jewel she had been looking for. Now she just had to gain full control over her and it would be done.

"Kagome! Oi! Can you here me?!" Inuyasha called, hoping that if what this woman said was true that Kagome was still in there and could hear him, but the woman in front him only smiled.

"She can't hear you, though she can see you," she stated coolly. "I want her to see your reaction when I tell you a wonderful thing that Abyss did a while back, something that she has finally figured out, but has the reason wrong... sooooo wrong that it works all to my benefit." Silence was all that greeted her words, no one daring to say a word. "You see she found out who fathered her children and who marked her as theirs, but she thinks that he was confused that night." She smirked as she looked at Inuyasha. "Looks like you're not the last of your line, half breed." Shocked gasps were heard from all save for Sesshomaru who looked unaffected by this news.

"W-What?" He couldn't believe it! How could he have done that and forgotten it?! Then he recalled that next morning and the smell of sex that had covered him. He had had sex with someone and to his relief it was with Kagome, but that was another question that came with that knowledge. How had he forgotten? He hadn't drank enough sake to have that kind of effect while Kagome had drank a bit, she hadn't been all that drunk either. She had walked around after that without even a stumble so why had she forgotten it as well? Had she regretted it?

"The Abyss, or as you know him, Naraku aided in that part, taking your memories of that night to work to his benefit, but he hadn't counted on the Miko recalling parts of it so soon. She had dreams, you see of that night but she couldn't find all the pieces to that puzzle until Naraku cleared it up for her, letting her know that the half breed was her mate." She sounded so gleeful about all the drama surrounding the pair of mates, enjoying the fact that it had caused such misery. "She was the perfect target, with her purity an easily exploited fault you see." She paused to allow them the time to absorb all that information, to take it all in and process it. "Sadly that's all he needed to tell her and her mind ran with it." She looked at the slayer and the monk. "You two had nothing to do with that and yet with my help I made it seem as if you were all against her, willing to push her aside for that night." Her smirk twisted further. "Telling her that now that she was damaged goods that you, slayer saw her as a traitor and you monk, she saw you trying to get a taste of her body." Another dark chuckle slipped out of her lips, the lips of their friend whom had never looked at them like this, so full of hate. "Not even the best part either."

Sesshomaru growled in annoyance, tired of listening to this woman gloat about herself. "I've heard enough!" he snapped. "You're all talk and very little action hiding behind the woman who if none of you weaklings had interfered wouldn't have so easily fallen into your trap!" Her smile fell, her eyes flashing in anger at his words.

"I'm stronger than you," she stated coldly, her smile returning to fight off the anger that was building and the fact that she could feel the Miko fighting against her, trying to regain the control over her body. "But I don't feel like fighting out here, not when I have a perfectly good home waiting for you to die in." With a flash of light, dark and purple she was gone, leaving them to stand there in shock and confusion. They had more information than they had had before, but more questions and worries to deal with now that she had revealed one large piece of the puzzle.


	33. Chapter 33

Kagome sat in the dark room, her grey blue eyes watching out the window that was semi-barred with the stone from the castle that twisted down over the view outside the room. She could only see thru the small slits of it, but even then it felt so strange, the feeling that while she was locked away she was captive and yet at the same time... she felt secure. Was that strange to think that way? She was a captive, a willing one in a strange way. She hadn't wanted to be captured, not when she had been with her friends and yet she felt that somewhere, down deep in her heart she had also felt the need to get away from them. They were her friends and yet she felt that they would never forgive her for what had happened. Kagome was in a time where it was frowned upon to give yourself to a man if you weren't wed and it wasn't any better in her time either. It was also frowned upon and while she knew her mother hadn't thrown her out over having sex, she didn't know if her mother truly was okay with it. Sure, she had said that it happened to lots of people, but that didn't mean that as a mother she found it okay.

Her mother didn't even know that she was pregnant, no one knew on her side of the well. Her grandfather would be upset, not at just having premarital sex, but having a baby out of wedlock and once he found out that Inuyasha was the culprit behind both he would try to force the Hanyou to marry her! As much as she loved Inuyasha she would never force him to be with her out of obligation, if anyone could force him to do anything that he didn't want to. No, he would be even more upset that she had taken advantage of him when both of them had been drunk. She hadn't been that drunk, knowing that the weird feeling she had felt after a few drinks had stopped her from drinking much more.

He wasn't the victim in this, Miko. He was just as capable of saying no, but did he? Did he even think of what he was doing when he laid with you? The voice was right! She wasn't the only one culpable in this! It took two to tango, as the old saying went. She didn't get herself pregnant! But what was she going to do? There was a pain in her heart and she didn't know what it was from! Was it because of her dark thoughts? Was it the darkness that she had allowed in her soul or was it because she was away from Inuyasha? Sango hadn't had much information on the mating to tell her why she felt so off, so not like herself lately. Sesshomaru would have known, hell, his mother would have had the answers! Why hadn't she asked more questions? Because you were afraid and rightfully so! Who would want to bind themselves to someone who would never love them? Not like you wanted to be loved! This voice knew so much and she knew it wasn't her own thoughts that were echoing around in her skull. No, this was the Queen. She was telling her all of this and she was partly right. Why bind yourself to someone who had already given up their heart to another, someone who was dead and gone, but had remained in a clay doll form still stalking their lover?

Well, it hadn't been stalking in the beginning, had it? No, Inuyasha had run after her while Kikyo had been waiting for him. She hadn't even planned to go after the one that had truly killed her, no, she had been content to just kill the one that had loved her long after her betrayal, long after her passing. He had even been ready, slightly upset that she had stopped him or had he been upset that she had been there to witness his weakness. After all, the Hanyou had never liked looking weak, no that was a human emotion and he hated his human half. Maybe she should have just let him have the jewel in the beginning, before she could have shattered it. Maybe it would have been better to let him have his wish to be a full bloodied demon.

No, it would have been easier that way, then she would have just gone home and none of them would have met each other, but that was a sad thought in itself. Sango would have lost her family either way, right? Miroku would have died in a battle against Naraku or by the wind tunnel that his family had been cursed with and Shippo, he would have been alone, possibly killed by the Thunder Brothers... She would have missed out on having a wonderful group of friends that she had come to call a family.

How do you know that would have happened? How do you know what their futures would have been? For all you know Abyss, Naraku, wouldn't have still gone after the slayer or maybe he would have let her be, after all YOU shattered the shards so she ended up with some that he wanted... The monk would have lost his life either way, but that was his grandfather's fault not his and not yours and the fox kid, well, again the shards that YOU created with that thoughtless action caused that! And your Hanyou, he would have been fine left on that tree, dreaming of his lost love, waiting for the day they would have been reunited. She was right. It had been her own thoughtless action that had caused all of this! If only she hadn't fallen down the well and then to top it off she had released him, opened his wounds and rubbed the salt in when Kikyo had been brought back to life.

Stiffening her resolve she closed her eyes to the light outside the shuttered window, to the outside and hardened her heart to the misery that she felt. She had caused so many deaths by being here, but coming back and continuing to fight alongside her friends. She had hurt them so could she even call them that anymore? Another part of her soul darkened, the jewel that was in a basket in a small hut became even blacker as she allowed herself to force her companions out of her heart. They were on their own. She had only her babies to care about and to do that she would have to kill Naraku and escape from this place. More death. She would be causing more death and even though the ones she wanted to kill were evil that didn't mean that she wouldn't have more blood on her hands. She wasn't pure, hadn't been in a long time and so, she no longer could be a Miko. Her powers, her being here, all of it had been a curse of the Shikon no Tama.

The sun began to set as the group ran down the path toward a silhouetted area, the trees lacking any color, almost blackened like a fire had rampaged thru this area recently, but a closer inspection would show that this was not true. This was like that village and like the others that were sure to match this, the ones that hadn't yet seen, but because of Niko they were sure they existed. The ground wasn't much different, even the feel of it was off, like it was still there in form, but that the ground was cold like ice as the night grew darker around them. They would have to camp soon, though they had hoped to get closer to their destination before the sun set it didn't appear to be what would be happening and the worse part was that not only did they not know where this place was, but what it looked like. How did one find something that they had no idea of its location much less its appearance.

"Hopefully the men of that village will be back sooner than later," Sango stated. Miroku nodded.

"I feel bad about leaving them in such dire straights," the monk replied, his mind, like the others, still on those left behind after the attack by the monsters and Kagome. That was what had made them leave so late, after helping the ones they could they urged them to head to safety, another village or even to a large castle that might take them in for the time being, but none of them had wanted to leave. The bodies of those that had died had yet to be buried, another thing that they had stayed for longer to complete. The dog demon lord of course just stood off to the side, watching them as they did this while observing the carnage left behind. When they had made sure that they were all taken care of and that they couldn't convince them to leave their home they headed off. They needed to get to Kagome before more harm could come to her or before the babies were born, whichever came first. Seeing as she was three months along, judging by the timing from that night they might have a few more months or even less time to get to her.

"Did she say that you were her mate?" Sango asked, turning toward the Hanyou while clinging to Kirara's fur. "Wouldn't you have remembered that night?" Inuyasha said nothing, still in his own thoughts about the night in question. Was it possible that Naraku had been able to infiltrate them that easily? He knew he hadn't been that drunk and neither had Kagome so how had the dark Hanyou been able to come into contact with them without anyone being the wiser? It made no sense! "Inuyasha?" Blinking he turned to her, looking lost and she repeated her question.

"Yeah, she did, but I don't remember that night any better than sh- well, I don't recall that night at all to be truthful." Honestly that was what bothered him the most about that night now that he was aware of the truth. He would have wanted to be able to recall something that he had been yearning to do for what felt like forever. Kagome had been someone that he could see himself with, someone that he loved as much as he loved his late mother. She, like his mother, had accepted him and she didn't even have to. Sure, his mother could have thrust him away or had killed him, but his mother had loved his father even knowing that he was a demon in the end. She had wanted to have him, but Kagome, Kagome should have hated him! Not just because he was a half demon. That was only the half of it. He had tried to kill her, had belittled her at every turn and then had gone after the one that had tried to kill her in a romantic sense. He had loved Kikyo, but it was nothing like the love he had for the young Miko that had awakened him all those years ago.

"Could be because you're half demon," the monk said thoughtfully, holding tightly to Sango's waist as they sped up. As the path was too narrow and the trees around it too close there was no place to really camp, not that anyone was tired. They should have been after the day they had had, but for some reason knowing that their friend was being used to commit horrible acts made them all the more intent on finding her.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" the Hanyou yelled out angrily. Sure, he didn't like his human half at one point had even hated it because it was a weakness to him on a regular basis, but even more so on one night of the month that made him emotional and unable to properly fight.

"Well, your human half is emotional, right?" Without waiting for an answer he continued on, "It would stand to reason that your human half would refuse to remember it as easily as your demon half, which is more instinctual." Sango nodded in agreement. "Your demon half made a claim on her a long time ago that your human half also wanted, but was either still confused by your affections for Kikyo or just was afraid of what she would think."

"Oi, that still doesn't make sense monk," Inuyasha stated, turning his attention to the pair on the fire cat. "My human side might be weaker than my demon side, but that should have no affect on my memory!"

"Inuyasha, your demon side did claim Kagome, right? No confusion, it knew what it wanted?" He nodded, turning back to look forward, still confused as to what his human side had to do with a missing memory. "Well, your human half might see this act as a betrayal of the feelings you have for Kikyo, even though you yourself obviously love Kagome way more than Kikyo." His face turned red at those words. He had thought that he had been hiding his feelings so well from the others, though he had hoped that in some way Kagome herself could read him. Maybe she had, but hadn't liked him like that and rather turning him down had decided that acting like it was all the same between them that he wouldn't be hurt. That was just how she was, kind to a fault.

"I don't think that's what happened, monk," the Hanyou stated bluntly. "I believe that Naraku and even that bitch who is controlling Kagome said that it was because of him and something he did to make us forget, but I just can't figure out how he did it and when he would have had the chance." They all fell silent. It was true that both enemies had claimed that Naraku had made them forget, but it was just so unlikely that he would have been able to get near enough to do it. Not just because they could sense him, but because they had been in a crowded house so how had he come onto the grounds without being noted. Not like his appearance had changed during that time and he didn't have any incarnations that could have doused them or anything.

"Well, until we talk to Kagome we don't even have a clue of where you two were when you engaged in sexual relations," Miroku stated, the pair watching as Inuyasha burned redder that that term. Both were sure that the couple had both been virgins before that night, even if Kagome had more graphic items in her time. Sango could recall the book that Kagome had brought with her one time... Sex Education. It had been pretty graphic, the slayer growing red at remembrance of the pages in that book and some of the words that she had never heard of, but that Kagome had explained to her. The Miko had brought the book because of her classes that she had missed, but also for Sango since she was also a virgin and a little bit nervous about her wedding that would be taking place after Naraku was killed. Now they had another villain to worry about. Did that mean she would have to wait longer? She shook off those thoughts. They were selfish and she had no right to think about something as petty as having to put off her wedding when her friend, no her sister was in such danger.

"Water," Sesshomaru stated. They all looked at him in confusion. "It would be the only thing that he could taint without being there at the time you two were around it." That's when it struck Sango.

"The hot springs," she said, almost excited that she had remembered where she had found her friend. Maybe she hadn't been there until that moment, but where else could the pair have gone that would be private, as the rest of the guests and household were in the main hall drinking in celebration to the evil being cleansed from their home? Blinking at that as it struck him that indeed there had been a hot spring at that home! Had he gone into that hot spring? Whenever one was available Kagome always wanted to use it, no matter what was happening! He could swear that even if they were in a battle the Miko wouldn't hesitate to jump into it following the battle.

"Yeah, there was one, but even if there was something in the water I can't recall going int-" A throb in his skull robbed him of speech, his steps faltering as an image appeared, almost like a clip of something playing in his head.

**Flashback**

Inuyasha stepped out of the crowded hall, his lunges inflating with the fresh air that burst into them after being in a room full of people that were creating too much heat and a mixture of sweat and perfume that just made him sick. The sake had helped him relax for a moment, enjoying Kagome's scent under his nose, the smell of her so strong and sweet that he could handle being in that room. The moment she had stepped out he had been left with just those annoying smells and all those people... those men that had been eyeing his Kagome! Looking around he noticed Kagome standing at the edge of the veranda, her eyes turned upward to look at the stars in the sky. She was always so excited about the nighttime here and after going to her time he could see why. To him they were something you saw every night before bed, but for her, that was a rare treat that happened only when there was a blackout as she called it.

He could always see it in her face, but now she lowered her eyes, something all the more enjoyable for her just behind some doors across the lawn. As she walked off he thought of just staying close to keep an eye on her, even if there were so many others around he just didn't trust them to protect her. No, he was the best choice for that, but instead of staying where he was he found himself walking after her, watching the sway of her hips as she progressed to her destination. There was just something different this time. He always admired her frame, the slender form of her that wasn't skinny and tense like Kikyo had been. Kagome had a beautiful body that went with that bright and beautiful soul of hers. She wasn't just a pretty face, no, she had the whole package and for some reason tonight he felt the urge to claim her pushing at him, his demon screaming at him that this was the night!

There's mate, looking so pretty and perfect for the pouncing! It had goaded him on, pushing him past the point he had always stopped himself. Had it been the sake or had it been like it was for most demons. Instinctual? He wasn't sure, but after reaching the door the Miko hesitated, but only for a second as she removed her shoes, leaving them at the small stoop in front of the hot spring. After she had entered he had followed her, her scent seeming to lead him by the nose and another more insisting part of him that only seemed to harden as he followed after her, the door opening as she finished removing her clothing...

*End of Flashback*

He had done it! He had followed behind her like a horney dog, watching her as if she were a prime piece of meat, just waiting to be devoured! Had she wanted it? He hadn't raped her had he?! After what he had thought of the dark Hanyou doing just that, feeling so much anger at the other male and his plans for the Miko, he found that he was even more upset with himself for doing just that! With his mind inward, cursing himself for the situation that he had put the Miko in. She was angry at him for claiming her! She hadn't wanted it, that was obvious!

"Inuyasha?" Sango called, her hand moving in front of the Hanyou's face, but he couldn't see it.

He had forced himself on the one that he claimed to love, had vowed to protect! He had taken her purity and she hadn't wanted to give it to him, but he had obviously had forced her down, kept her from fighting him as he violated her and then to top it off he had marked her, keeping her from ever giving herself to another. For all he knew she wanted to be with that Hojo guy or maybe another human boy from her side!

"Inuyasha!" This time Miroku tried to get the silver haired male's attention, but he wasn't any more successful than the slayer.

He could have fucked her up even more than that! She was a Miko and he had heard that they lost their powers once they lost their virginity! He was lucky that that was just a rumor and now proven unfounded, but that was just a small break. Kagome had told her mother that she had had sex, that was obvious, but now she would have to tell her mother that she was pregnant and the child would never lead a normal life. Those pups would possibly never get to leave their home save for once a night when they could pass for a human, but even then Kagome would be the one hurt. In his time an unmarried woman was bad enough, but an unwed mother?! That was a trial in itself. You were looked down upon, treated with very little respect and now she had that in spades. She wouldn't just be an unmarried mother bu- PUNCH!

Inuyasha looked up, his hand resting on his throbbing cheek as he glared at his brother. "Oi! What the fuck, bastard?!" he growled.

"You remembered something, bastard brother of mine," he stated, looking coolly down at his brother, his golden eyes staring coldly at him. Those words seemed to strike a cord with the male because his white ears disappeared into his silver mane, his eyes going down and his scowl was replaced with a frown.

"Yeah, I'm a bastard," was his response that even seemed to surprise the stolic male. "I just fucked Kagome up so badly." It was spoken so softly that if they hadn't been standing so close to him they wouldn't have heard. Sesshomaru frowned at his brother's final words.

"What do you mean?" Miroku inquired, raising a brow in confusion before it hit him. "You did have sex with Kagome!" Sango's mouth dropped open at the words. She had kind of figured it out, but to hear the way he had described it, she reacted without thought and struck him on the other cheek.

"You fucking horse's ass!"


	34. Chapter 34

Inuyasha couldn't believe that the slayer had just punched him! What had he done to deserve that, and then he noticed that she hadn't used the boomerang. Not only that, but she hadn't hit him as hard as she could, not that he knew how hard she could truly hit... only Miroku knew that. She was gripping her weapon so hard that her fingers and knuckles were turning white. He could tell that she really wanted to hit him and another question popped into his mind, but first... "What the fuck did you do that for bitch?!" The Hanyou rubbed his cheek, feeling a slight swelling already beginning to grow. It pulsed angrily at him, feeling as hot as he felt at that moment. "Oi, I was just telling the truth!" Her brown eyes glistened with tears, anger reflecting back at him so strongly he could swear that her eyes flashed.

"Sango?" the monk said, reaching out to touch her shoulder when he noted that Sesshomaru was shaking his head, as if he knew something that Miroku didn't, like how pissed off the woman before him was. He couldn't remember a time that true fear shown on Inuyasha's face when faced with the wrath of a slayer on the warpath. He drew back just as a sniffle came from the tumble of brown hair, some of it shifting with the soft wind that blew. It was so quiet, like the calm before the storm that warned you of how bad it truly was going to be when the doors finally broke. Miroku realized at that moment that he was witnessing the world collapsing around the brunette. So much was going on right now and it seemed to be one strike too many. She was still mourning the loss of her people, her father and her brother. The torment that she had to have endured with every fight against her own blood, the last of her people and her only remaining family member.

Kagome had always been there for her, a sister she could turn to when she felt that fresh pain, washing over her when they lost another one... she lost another one. She lost a part of herself that kept it together when the world dished out another blow. This was the one person she could confide to, that was like a missing family member that you had never knew came to live with you. An instant connection had brought the two this close, like he had felt when his eyes had come to rest on her that faithful day. That's what this group truly comprised of and he knew without a doubt that even with Inuyasha in the Alpha role of this pack that Sango as the Beta was just as able to run the pack, smacking the Alpha up when he did something wrong... and this...this was something wrong. If Inuyasha was the Alpha then that Kagome as first bitch and women were cold when it came to protecting their own sister as they were if it had came to their own children. Inuyasha had misspoke and Miroku knew this. The male would never speak ill of their friend and the woman that he loved. Sango had to know that even if she was super pissed off and in attack mode.

"You fucked up her up? You have been doing that forever now," the brunette spat, a chill running up his spine at the cold tone, but even as he felt that slight fear he felt anger rising. He hadn't been doing that! He had done it this time, but there wasn't another time he could think of that the moment. Sure, he admitted that he had belittled her in the past, but they had gotten past that. He hadn't called her anything unless he had gotten ticked off and said something in anger. The Miko had forgiven him for those, even if he had never really asked for forgiveness. She still hadn't lifted her head since it had fallen and he wondered how ticked off she was because the tone was scary enough, but if she looked as half as pissed off as she sounded he knew there would be a beating in there somewhere. "You can't even think of a time that you've done that, can you?" This seemed to be funny as a small chuckle broke out from her lips. It wasn't happy though, that was certain. "You do it all the time," she said softly. "Little things she can forgive and she's fine, back to her happy self without a care in the world, but then you do the bigger thing. You love her, but you're torn by your past love coming back," she stated, smacking him with the boomerang when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Instead of being a fucking man, you lead her own with a way that I myself will never understand, you don't tell her the truth." Sango looked up now and the darkness of her eyes truly even made his demon back down while all the while his demon didn't stay down long. It wasn't just made at her, it was mad at him. Every word coming out of the slayer's mouth was true and something it had been trying to get across since seeing the future born Miko, but he hadn't wanted to listen. His human heart just couldn't let go of what it had once had. After all, besides the instinct that led his demon and it being right a good portion of the time, demons were not led by their emotions since there were only a few. Eat, hunt, mate, fight. Those were essentially their life. There was no emotion to that, but because he was human as well there were underlying emotions to those actions so as a human he was so much more than his demon. He had a wider trail path. "Tell her that you can't give her your fucking heart, that even if you feel something that it isn't stronger than what you have for a woman who had long since been dead! Longer than Kagome's been alive for fuck's sake!"

She thumped him again, this time just because she was frustrated. "Because of your Kami damned actions of not only allowing that clay bitch to have a part of Kagome's soul, but you followed that filth around for fucking ever you left a perfectly alive woman to wallow in the despair of seeing that!" Another thump from the inside this time, hid demon signaling his agreement with the scary female before him. He took a chance to glance over at the only other two people in their group and then to the other silent party, Kirara. All of them refused to met his gaze, giving him the cold shoulder and that was saying a lot for his brother when the male was cold as ice. "No!" Three large wacks followed her word. "You finally broke her after all that! She forgave you for it all, the little things and then the Kikyo shit, but you still take it a step farther!"

"You saw me tell Kikyo to fuck off!" he reminded her.

"After we had to make you act like an adult! You wanted to go and see her before, but now you decided to just ignore her like she would go away on her own! She tried to kill Kagome for fuck sake!" She let out a frustrated growl as she shoved her weapon into the dirt. "You marked her and mated her! You impregnated the woman you couldn't commit to Inuyasha!"

"I said I fucked up!" he growled as he shot up into her face. "I don't know what else to say, but I fucked up! I have no idea what happened that night and it makes me so fucking mad and torn up at the same time because I know that I love Kagome!" Silence fell upon the small area, not a bird or bug to be heard. The night had fallen during this interaction, the party unaware as they continued to stare at the pair fighting. "I know that I love her and I knew that she was my mate for a damned while, but I fucked up. I ignored my demon until that night." He paused, looking at them all, this time they were meeting his gaze with their own, knowing that he was being completely truthful and open about his feelings for the Miko. "Until I remember the rest of that night, I can do nothing to fix this except try to convince her that we were meant to be." As if that storm had finally passed Sango grunted.

"You fucking better," that was all she said as she picked up the small bag with the cooking utensils. After finding the pot she said, "I'm going to find some water. Miroku get us some firewood and Inuyasha, get us some food." He blinked, turning to look at the others, Miroku smirking as he rushed off while Sesshomaru simple just smirked before taking a seat against the nearest tree. The Hanyou didn't know what to say as he stalked off to find some food, his brother chuckling softly after him.

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Days later found the Miko standing before the Queen looking rather morose with a slightly twisted frown on her face. She had become more angry, her eyes changing more to a silver after left for a few days in the small room that had become her sanctuary since coming here. It was the highest in the castle, far away from the room that had born her new persona. She hated that room and hated this woman before her, longing to get away from her and live her life she became aware that she as like Kagura. She was trapped, with no way out and with the person holding controlling her, holding her hostage by the one thing Kagome loved more than herself... her pups. She had grown even bigger in the last few days, her stomach looking twice its size strangely enough. It was so weird having very little time with her babies still safe inside of her, knowing that they were maturing so fact because of a rare thing that happened when a Miko and a powerful demon mated. Looking down she noted that her nails had become claws. Nothing new had happened since then save for her claws were changing to a black tint. It must had to do with the darkness building in her.

She had feared it at first and now she nearly welcomed it with open arms. Giving herself a mental shake she knew that she needed to get out of this castle, away from this woman before her before she grew too dark to even remember why she needed to get out. Touching her stomach, feeling for her babies to acknowledge her. A small push against her palm let her know that they were truly still there, waiting for her to get them out of the darkness and back to the light. She might not stay here, even if she promised Sesshomaru and her babies she knew that she would need to get away from all of it. The temptation of the well and Kaede's village. She wouldn't allow herself or her pups to be harmed because of their father and his feelings about the conception of the babies. They wouldn't be without all the love that she could give them though, but first she had to get away from her and to do that she would need a way to kill the Queen.

"I know what you are thinking, Miko," she spoke, her voice harsh and soft all at once. "All who are poisoned by my evil become mine, their thoughts...their hearts...their bodies...and their souls." She paused between each item, as if she wanted to reiterate that she knew all the ways that they could betray her and that she wouldn't allow that to happen. Smirking she turned toward the shadows. "Abyss, why not show our little Miko that I mean business." The male stepped out from the shadows, his eyes a dark blood red, no longer shining anymore as if his soul were not only blackened with her evil, but that his soul was no longer there. He didn't even hesitate to strike out at her, his fist crashing into her face. A cry echoed in the large room as she tried to move her body to soften the blow. He hadn't held back and spitting out the taste of her own blood she watched in shock as one of her teeth landed in the bloody pool before her. "Tsk tsk, Abyss, not too hard," she said turning concerned eyes toward the fallen woman before a smirk twisted her lips. "We wouldn't want to cause her to lose those pups." Kagome stared in shock that was quickly turning into anger as the Queen burst out laughing. The sound was so dark, so full of hate that Kagome couldn't help the shudder that crawled over her skin, goosebumps breaking out as it passed.

"You bitch," Kagome hissed before spitting out more blood. The Queen merely smirked wider, enjoying the name she was being given.

"Good, Miko, let that hate fill you," she said, leaning forward. "It will only hasten the inevitable. You will become mine completely with no love, no misery, and no joy. You will become a wonderful tool to use in my taking over the world. In the end there will only be me and mine. For those that are left behind they will only feel hate, anger, and loyalty toward me." It was a bleak future, the words opening up Kagome's eyes to what she was volunteering to turn into. She was allowing her soul to be corrupted and in doing so she would banish all her friends to death or worse... a life that was far greater than death. Kagome could hear the voices behind her and wondered if that was what they were, the ones that the Queen spoke of just now. Those whom were created from what she had sent Kagome to do just that afternoon.

"That's why you had me go and oversee that attack this afternoon," she said, the anger still simmering at the surface even as she tried to tamp it down. She couldn't believe what this woman was trying to do! Naraku had been bad enough, but his dream had been but a fevered one and it would have been destroyed with the help of Inuyasha and the others with little more than one battle that had been just on the horizon. Then this woman had come into the picture. Naraku's greed had come back to bite him in the ass and with it he had doomed her to remain here with him. The Queen laughed at her, overjoyed that she had come to the realization that not only had she been warned in a very visual way, but had also realized that she truly wasn't free at any point. But that was just it. Kagome could get free if she could get past the darkness that had been slowly seeping into her while in the darkness of the castle. That was what was truly affecting her at this point, not the Queen herself. She hadn't felt that darkness when she had entered, just the evil that swam around her as if she had been dunked into a swimming pool, but now that she had been here for a few weeks with little interaction outside the walls of this structure she was drowning in it. It was being absorbed with every breath and every step she took. She had to get out of these walls for longer than just a day.

"Ah, but even then you would still retain my evil," the Queen said. "You could run free for years, but as long as I retain my power you would still be linked to me and like Abyss' former incarnations, you would be easy to find." Turning from the Queen Kagome headed out of the room wondering why the woman had called her before her. Had it just been to punish her for her mutinous thoughts or had there been more to it? Still, if she was confident enough to tell her how it all worked than that didn't bode well for the Miko. She would be stuck here until she could defeat the woman on the throne and she wasn't sure that she could do that alone.

No, I need Inuyasha, even if after we defeat her I must go in a separate direction. It had all been a lie, the things she had seen concerning her friends, save for Inuyasha. How could he not remember what had happened that night. Maybe she had been under Naraku's influence, but the Hanyou was stronger than that. He would have noticed the evil Hanyou stepping too close to them. Walking down the empty halls, the darkness only broken by a few candles that lit the long corridors she began to work thru it all, all that she could remember at this moment. The darkness seemed to throw more questions at her, ones that at this moment she had no answer for. There was the question that begged to be questioned above all else at the moment. How had Naraku taken her memories? How had he gotten close enough without anyone on the grounds seeing him much less feeling the evil that he was? Miroku would have sensed the evil, even when he faked it at times he had been spot on other times even when it hadn't benefited them with a place to stay for the night.

Sango might not have felt it, but even then she was close enough to the outside of the building and the main hall with their rooms just being outside there and yet she hadn't recalled anyone that night or she would have said something and then there was Inuyasha. He had the most sensitive senses and should have felt it the moment the male had come onto the grounds. He too had been in the main hall, the middle of the home that was close to all sides of the estate. Why hadn't h- "He had done something before hand." He had to have set up a demon at that home, knowing where they were and what they did when they needed a place to stay! After all he had his little flying spies that could have reported to the evil Hanyou where they were and what they were doing. It all made sense, but now she needed to figure out what he could have done to cause this and how he had gotten past the group that knew what his aura felt like and would have been able to easily identify it being too close to their camp.


	35. Chapter 35

Inuyasha was trying desperately to fend off the depression that seemed to envelope him, but it was hard to thrust it away when he felt depressed and angry. That was another emotion that was trying to get the better of him. After what Sango had said to him it was no wonder that he felt a little depressed about how he had been treated Kagome. He hadn't truly had a clue that she liked him like that, maybe she thought he was cute, after all she said that about his ears and she had told him that she liked him the way he was, but that was hard to believe that she would have wanted him as a mate. He was a Hanyou, a breeding that was looked down upon and yet he felt the depression and anger were not his own, as if there were someone out there trying to give him those feelings. He glanced over at his brother, who was sitting alone as he usually was, under a tree just about six feet or more away. His brother could tell him if it had to do with mating with Kagome, but he was hesitant to ask his brother, after all he had his pride.

Another thought made him stand, turning his back to the other two who were passed out next to the dying fire in the pit. Pride meant nothing if the Miko died. She had given him the pride and confidence that he had never had. Sure, he had it when it came to fighting, but she had made him a better person and more confident that if he allowed others closer to him that they too would see that he was a good person. Not even Kikyo had done that for him. No, she had been super concerned with being normal, something he had wanted as well. They had been different though. He had thought about, even agreed to comply with her request to become human if that meant she could be normal. He knew now that in the end they would never have been happy, not in the way that Kagome mad him. He would have given anything for the now dead Miko, but what would she have truly given him? A shorter life span with a woman that he hadn't even been sure had ever accepted him for who he was and where he came from.

He would have given up on his dream of becoming a full bloodied demon for a woman who wanted him to give up himself when she would have had all she wanted. He found himself feeling kind of relieved that he hadn't done it, though the way it had ended hadn't been all that great. That was a blessing in disguise in a strange way. He had found out that she never truly had trusted him and he couldn't say that he had fully trusted her either, but he had loved her. He had also met Kagome because of it, his true love... his true mate. Walking over to his brothers still form he stopped a few feet from the brooding male. At first he waited for his brother to acknowledge him and when he was finally about to open his mouth Sesshomaru finally made the choice to talk. "What is it?" His golden eyes opened to lock with Inuyasha's own golden orbs.

"Um, about mates," he said, almost feeling awkward standing before the one male that had more information on his kind and yet had always tried to kill him, blaming him for his father's untimely demise. He had never thought of it like that until Kagome had asked him about it one day. She had wanted to know what had happened between the two to make them hate each other and he had told her that in the beginning he hadn't really hated the older dog demon. They had only met once and that had been by chance when his older brother had come across him after his mother had died. It had been a chance meeting and the hate that had shown in those golden orbs had made the ten year old child shrink a bit in fear. He had known of Sesshomaru, after all his mother had told him that he had a half brother when he had turned two after he had complained about not having a sibling like all the other kids in the village. None of them would play with him of course and that had been what had prompted him to ask his mother for a playmate in the form of another sibling.

She herself had never met either his mate or their child, but her mate had told her to stay away from them. She hadn't asked much about them, but she had to guess that since Inuyasha looked so much like his father that his half brother had to share some of the family resemblance. It was rumored that all Inu-youkai shared two common traits: silver hair and golden eyes. He had yearned to meet his half brother, but his mother had shared the same concern as her mate had and had told him that they could never meet because it would be a final meeting for the two. At that age he hadn't understood, but when he had met the male he had known why. That look that was in his eyes matched those of the villagers that had sneered at him, wanting his death since he was an abomination.

"What about them?" his brother asked, breaking thru his thoughts with his cold tone. Inuyasha scowled at him, no longer feeling awkward, just angry and then he realized he didn't know the exact question that he wanted to ask the older male. "If you don't have an answer then you are wasting my ti-"

"Can they feel each other's feelings?" he snapped, the question coming back at his brother's dismissive tone.

"If the bond is strong enough they can," he stated in a disinterested voice, but his eyes told a different story, one that Inuyasha just didn't comprehend. Was his brother already mated? No, his brother was too cold to mate with anyone, unless they were like his mother or even himself. Both of them fit that bill quite well, but he couldn't be bothered with that. If Kagome were feeling those two emotions now than all those other days that he had been so mixed up with all the emotions than that meant she was feeling them. "They can even communicate without speaking, but that takes years for most mates to get that far in their bond." Communicate with each other without words? Did he mean they could communicate telepathically? If that was the case then maybe he needed to find a way to use that. "It's not that easily done, brother. You and the Miko are new mates, so that part of the mating wouldn't be an easy task, like I said." He sounded rather annoyed that the Hanyou would ignore his advice after asking for it.

"Your mother even said that we weren't normal mates! Oi, you even saw what happened to Kagome because we mated!" Those were valid points, but even if they were different there was no guarantee that they could master such techniques that early in their relationship. "I think I'm even feeling her emotions!" That was new, Sesshomaru looking up in surprise. Sure, some mates could feel emotions between them, but only when the circumstances were dire and while Kagome was indeed in danger, there was no clue that proved she was in dire straits.

"That is truly interesting, but it doesn't mean anything for something that takes most mates years, like I said before." Inuyasha just scoffed at him before stomping off to find a tree to sit in. Looking at the pair as he walked by he wondered if he and Kagome would ever have that? Sango and Miroku weren't laying too close together, but her hand was laying under his. The pair looked so content by just that small gesture. He and Kagome had held hands and to him it had felt right, but even then he had only thrust those feelings to the side and now he had to prove them to her. After all that he had done by following Kikyo around without any thought of how it had affected the younger Miko he knew this would be a task. If only he could remember more about that night! Had he confessed to her? He would have told her why he was marking her, right? With a growl he jumped into the tree closest to him, his back settling against the trunk. He looked out over the tree tops and wondered what Kagome was doing now?

She had to be trying to get out of there, didn't she? What was holding her back? Kagome! Kagome! Please come back to me! He sat there with his eyes closed, trying to concentrate on the Miko that he ached for, hoping that in some way that his brother was wrong and that he could reach her even if they were separated.

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The Miko in question was sleeping at that moment, though nothing was around to wake her she didn't sleep soundly, the darkness weighing her down even in sleep. She could feel it, like a real live nightmare that never left your side while it continued to whittle at your very soul. Her heart ached and for the first time since she had been brought here two things happened almost on top of each other. She shifted, still sleeping lightly as the silence echoed around her making her feel even more alone as a tear made its way from under her lashes. She was scared and she was lonely. She had neve been alone for this long, having always had her family or her friends at her side. It wasn't because she was a social butterfly, but she seemed to collect friends like a butterfly catcher collected butterflies except she didn't have to catch them. They were drawn to her and she knew deep down that she had loved being around her friends, enjoyed their company as much as they seemed to enjoy being around her. "Inuyasha," she whispered, another tear escaping before she found that she was shaking with the need to release them all. The fear, the loneliness, the confusion, and the heartache. All of it was hitting her at once as she finally sat up, her light sleep giving her no rest as her body protested to another night of lost sleep.

That had to be another thing that helped break her down. Having no sleep could drive a person mad and make them do whatever they could to get it, but she wasn't in the right place for that. She needed to stay strong, to hope that her friends would be here soon. That thought made her feel a little bit better, but the thought of Inuyasha being with them clenched her heart painfully. Like the slayer she hadn't had anyone to confide in, being left to her own fears and worries was another thing that was causing her to become darker. It was a loss of faith in those that loved you and she knew they did, but at this moment she feared that they were lost and not going to make it before she was unable to resist the call of the darkness around her. After the talk, well, the threat, from the Queen earlier that evening the Miko found that she was even more worried about the future of her children. The Queen had almost sounded happy that the strike from Naraku would cause her to miscarry, like it was a goal that would come sooner than later if she had anything to say about it.

If only she could use her powers, but the darkness was causing them to recede and that in itself was another worry as well. Was she losing her powers because of the darkness, the evil that was in the castle and if that was the case then did that mean that they would be forever gone if she succumbed to the evil? Or were they just become dormant? Or were they being stolen by the Queen?! She had said that once Kagome let go then she would become the best weapon that she could use to rule the world...

Kagome! Her train of thought was cut off as a familiar voice called out to her. Looking around she tried to figure out where it had come from, her eyes watering up again at the thought that she was free, but when she called out to the voice and no one responded she wondered if she were going crazy. Was her mind playing tricks on her since she missed the Hanyou so much. Kagome!

"I-Inuyasha!" she cried out, standing up to rush to the barred window from earlier. Looking out she could see nothing, even with her demonic vision couldn't make out anything on the landscape below. She was sure she had heard his voice this time. It had sounded like he was right next to her, calling out her name, but she knew he wasn't there and now she knew that he wasn't here at all. "Inuyasha! I can hear you but I can't see you!" Silence was all that was left after she stopped talking, but she still listened hoping for his voice again. She had felt lonely before, but the sound of his voice had mixed effects...she felt all the more lonely and yet, at the same time her heart had stopped hurting.

Please come back to me! Come back to him? Did he think she wanted to be here?! Sitting back down on the stone cot she leaned back against the wall, her eyes closing as she decided to take a weird idea and run with it. If he wasn't here and she could hear him speak three times, all of which sounded like he were right next to her than that meant he was speaking to her via her mind.

Inuyasha! Inuyasha! she called out twice, her mind centered on his image, his golden eyes and silver hair as she tried to contact him as she felt that he had. At first all she got was silence and then...

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The Hanyou was laying on the limb, his brows furrowed in concentration as silence was the only answer to his plea and he almost gave up when he felt a change in his emotions. There was fear and...loneliness... and sadness. He could almost feel moisture on his face, but a quick wipe of his cheek revealed there was nothing there. He felt a slight elation as the fact that he could feel her tears even if it was heartbreaking that she was crying. He hated it when she cried, but to know that he could feel it made him feel better because it meant that not only was she still alive, but she wasn't evil like she had appeared earlier even though his brother had called out the Queen that had been controlling her. That evil bitch had made it sound like Kagome had given up, had left him when it appeared that she hadn't done that at all. He began to concentrate again, reaching out for her almost wanting to reach out with his physical hand at how much he ached for skin to skin contact with his missing mate.

Inuyasha! Inuyasha! His eyes flew open at her voice, knowing that he had made contact with her when his brother had brushed off his confidence. Where are you!? Why aren't you coming to get me!? He felt sadness tinting those words as he closed his eyes again, trying to sooth her thru their nonverbal contact.

I'm trying, Kagome, I promise. Please calm down, it's not good for our pups. He could feel the sadness temper a moment later. Waiting for a moment until it was down enough that he could ask her questions he felt her relief come thru stronger. Where are you? We've been following the destruction, but it's all over the place and it's making it harder to get to you.

She's probably doing that on purpose, Inuyasha. She want's me to break! She wanted to tell him that the Queen was intent on killing their pups, but she wasn't sure if she could take how he would react. Sure, he acted like he cared about them, but that could just be him trying to get her to stop crying. We're in a big castle that is almost invisible because it's in a mountain, actually part of the mountain on the darker side of it. That didn't give him much. Naraku liked to hide his castles that way as well, but since most mountains were similar in this area that would make it harder to figure out which once she was in. It was then that she gave him a better idea of where she was, as if she had felt his frustration and confusion in that moment. It's the largest one in the area, bigger than even where Koga lives. He almost growled at the other male's name, but pushed it down. She didn't need him to be petty at that moment and besides he had her now. She was his and another would never take her away from him!

Got it! We'll find you, Kagome, don't you worry! He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but felt that with how she thought he didn't feel that same way made him pause. It wasn't the right time. He would tell her when they were alone and in person. The Hanyou wanted it to be where she could see that he wasn't lying, that he wasn't just trying to do the right thing after impregnating her. Kagome, please take care of yourself and our pups until I can get to you. He received no answer, silence greeting his plea, but he knew that she was okay as her feelings were still coming thru the line. Satisfied that his mate was okay and that he knew where to find her he fell asleep with very little difficulty, unaware that she too had finally found sleep knowing the very same thing, that her mate was coming to get her and soon she would be free from this dark castle and the Queen who threatened her and the babies lives.


	36. Chapter 36

As the sun rose high into the skies the beams hit the eyes of one silver haired male in the tree, a smile on his face as he continued to dream of Kagome, her chocolatey brown eyes gazing up at him with so much love. Her body was still ripe with his pups, the evil Queen was gone and Naraku was dead at their feet. It was the dream that would soon become a reality if he had anything to do with it. Stretching as the sun warmed the air the Hanyou opened his golden orbs, shielding them from the bright light before hopping down to the campsite. His brother was still awake, his own golden eyes watching the other side of the camp, where the sun was coming up. It was just after dawn and he was anxious to get on the way to finding Kagome, after all he now knew where to look for her and with any help from his travelling brother they would have the exact location. Turning from the two still sleeping he headed back over to his brother, again finding himself where he had just been the night before asking the awkward questions about mates, but because he had asked the question he now had the answer that they had all been searching for. Without changing the position of his gaze his brother asked, "Here for another birds and bees talk, brother?"

Scoffing at him he shook his head before responding, "No, I have information, but seeing as you are the nomad of the family, brother, I felt that you might know more about a mountain that is larger than most, part of it is always encased in darkness." At his words the older male raised a brow as he turned to Inuyasha. "Ah, so you do know what I am talking about?" It was a question but at the look that was in his brother's eyes he knew that it truly wasn't one. His brother knew this place and knew it well enough to look ticked off at the mention of that place.

"It is always encased in darkness, but it was never dark," he said. The way he said that only confused the Hanyou. How could a place be both dark and not dark? That made no sense. It was almost as if his brother knew what he was thinking when he spoke again, "The place used to be a very lively place, full of life and the like, but after the massacre of the people there, well, it's never been the same. The ground was so saturated with blood that nothing could grow there and while it is nothing to me since it's not part of my own land, several of our people were..." he faded off for a moment, looking rather upset.

"Were they killed there?" Inuyasha inquired, hearing the sounds of the pair waking up behind him. More than likely they could see that the brothers were conversing about something personal and had decided not to interrupt, instead going about the morning routine like getting water for breakfast and cleaning up after they were done. He had not concern for any of that right now, he had to know about this place where Kagome was being kept and so far it sounded bad. His brother looked away for a moment, his brows knitting together.

"They were killed, but they weren't the people that lived there," he said, sounding rather unhappy now, his tone turning colder than Inuyasha had ever heard it. "You were too little to remember it, but it was where your mother lived after having you." Inuyasha's eyes grew as wide as saucers. He had lived in this place with his mother?! He didn't remember living anywhere but where they had, with her family. "It's where father had placed you two for protection, where he was killed." He turned his golden orbs toward the Hanyou, almost looking angry at the male before him. It brought up what Kagome had once told him, that his brother was angry because of how his father had treated him and his mother. He had loved them more in the older demon dog's eyes and even if it wasn't true it had only become solidified when Toga, his father, had died to protect them. "He had married her, mated with her, marked her and when she had fallen pregnant he didn't feel she was safe in her home town so he had taken her to that village." Silence filled the space between them, only broken by the sounds of the pair behind them cooking the meal and talking softly among themselves. "It was a village full of demons and humans alike, all of them living like that village we passed days ago. This area is a haven for their kind and this place was the largest one in the area, a town instead of a village. He felt she would be safe there should his own people rise up or her people killing her for what she had done."

"For marrying our dad or for being pregnant with me?" Inuyasha asked softly, feeling so torn now that he knew his father had truly cared about his mother, not that she hadn't said the same thing for years when he had been so upset that his father had left them alone. Now he knew. His father had tried to protect them, give him a normal life with others that were like them, but he had ended up dying the night he had been born. How had that happened to one that he had heard had been so powerful?

"Both," came Sesshomaru's response. "She had been defiled, as her people looked at it and our own people, demons in general, saw it as being weak to fuck and mate a human. I saw it as that way as well. Humans are too weak to be of any good, but then I see your Miko and even the slayer and know that in some instances that it isn't true."

"What happened to them? How did my mother survive that?" His brother chuckled darkly.

"Father and I happened, though at the time I was only doing as my father, a great Lord and warrior asked of me. It had nothing to do with your mother or even you. I looked up to our father even if I thought he had made a mistake. It was the day he died." It seemed that they had lived there throughout her pregnancy if that was the case. Nine months of calm and serenity and then... "They did it so cowardly," he spat. "Attacked in the nighttime, when everyone slept they came for that town, killing all as they searched for your mother." Scoffing he continued, "The fucked up part was even if they had found her first they were still going to kill the others. That town, the village we passed, all of them were considered a disease that needed to be eradicated."

"You used to be like them," Inuyasha pointed out, his brother growling menacingly at his words.

"I may have been similar to them, brother, but I wasn't a monster like them! I may have killed them if they had come across from me for what they did, but I would not have hunted them down, killed them in the night!" His voice was rising with each word, the others now looking over as his eyes flashed red. "I would not have killed innocent children!" The Hanyou stepped back, aware that he brother was truly mad at his accusation and since Inuyasha had not known much of his brother he had no way to know that his brother wouldn't have killed them all. "Fuck, I was the one that began killing our own to stop the slaughter, but by the time we had gotten there almost all of them were gone, your mother safe in a home closer to the mountain itself. Even then, it wasn't just our kind there, no her own men were there slaughtering any that they came into contact with."

"That's how he died." It wasn't a question this time. No, his mother had stated that his father had died just after he was born...Just seconds after he was born.

"He came upon your mother in the throes of labor, that's why he had headed out that way, but when information came at the same time about a planned assassination of her and the people whom had harbored her, he came to me and asked for help. I wanted to tell him no, but I knew of that town as well and knew that none of them deserved to die. Not that way."

"He knew that my mother was in labor?" His brother nodded.

"A mate knows such things, brother, but when he went to her one of her men, a man named Takemaru. Her family had sent him to find her, to kill her for the shame she had brought upon them. They had no idea that she was pregnant." It was a gruesome story, but they had to go there, that was where Kagome was.

"Kagome is being kept in that area, the castle of that bitch is now in that spot." Sesshomaru chuckled, Inuyasha growling at his laugh. This wasn't the time to laugh! She was in even more danger knowing she was in a place that had held such misery and death!

"Do not think that I am laughing at her misfortune. It should have been the most obvious place for someone like the Queen of the Void. A place so full of death that she would have nothing pure in her way and such an ample amount of humans to slaughter for her energy." Still growling Inuyasha stated that they would be heading out before turning from his brother to grab some food while it was still warm. Snatching a bit of the dried meat and a bowl of rice he stalked off toward his tree to eat. Sesshomaru turned back to look at the sun, a sad smile on his face. How ironic that your son's mate should be kept in the same place as your mate was, father.

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On that same mountain Kagome found herself waking up to someone pulling at her clothing, tearing bits of it off to expose her to the cold air of the castle. Shuddering she opened her grey blue eyes to find Naraku yanking the top of her dress away, most of it falling to the ground. With having just had the best sleep she had had since coming to this place she found that she was a bit groggy, her body feeling too heavy to fight back as he pressed his lips to hers. She felt the bile rise up in her throat as her powers began to resurface, not as strong as before but enough to make him pull back, but just when she thought he was going to leave her alone he struck her in the face where he had the day before. That side was still tender so when his hand made contact with it again she felt an even stronger pain than before. She refused to cry out though, her body shaking in anger mixed with disgust. She wouldn't give him the benefit of hearing her pain. Kagome continued to fight against him, pushing him into a wall with her demonic strength, but it only served to piss him off more and it also seemed to arouse him further as he finally pushed her up against a wall. Before she could fight him any further he grasped her wrists tightly in his hands before shoving them roughly against the stone wall behind her.

"Don't think that I haven't forgotten about you, Miko," he rasped as his mouth slammed back on hers, his tongue penetrating her orifice in a motion that was meant to mimic the sexual act that he wanted to do to her. He pulled back from her mouth after what felt like hours, his mouth moving down to her jaw, his fangs nipping at her skin while he ground his lower body against hers so she could feel his hardness, his body's reaction to what he was doing. She tried to move her arms, tried to free herself from his grasp as his mouth moved lower, his hands moving down her arms as he neared where her mark was. What was he doing?! His fangs brushed against her mark and she felt something in her twist in both anger and revulsion, her pups reacting to the sudden invasion of what their father had left as a claim to their mother. The power that arched from her abdominal was stifled when his hand was removed from her arm to slam into her stomach.

She couldn't take it anymore, not the attempt to rape her, the attacks on her body, but the last straw had been that punch. While it hadn't appeared to do much, the pain that she felt for her babies amplified her almost dormant powers as they surged around her, her eyes flashing a bright golden red simultaneously with the power of her unborn babies as she blacked out...

The group had been heading for the mountain, following behind Sesshomaru since he was the only one that had been to the place. Inuyasha was running behind him, speeding past the trees when all of a sudden it almost looked like he had tripped, his body doubling over as a cry was ripped from his throat. Everyone stopped, the sight of the powerful Hanyou on his knees clutching his stomach a sad sight. Miroku jumped off of Kirara's back, rushing to his side while Sango followed. Only Sesshomaru stood by, watching his brother with interest before reaching out to shove the two humans back as a golden red aura rippled over his form with a bright pink underlying in a pulsating way that burst out. The power from him seemed to shake the trees as another cry was torn from his throat, this one not one of pain, but of anger. The four of them watched in awe as the male before them seemed to change, his demon form trying to come to the surface even as he tried to fight it.

If he changed with the anger that had been in that cry, they were all dead and they all knew it, so Sesshomaru shoved them back onto the fire cat's back and sent them off with, "Get the fuck away!" Turning to his brother as the others continued to run away from the scene, Sango looking back over her shoulder in both confusion and fear while Miroku watched the road ahead. He knew why Sesshomaru had done what he had done, but he was worried for his friend. What had happened in that mere few seconds? Meanwhile Sango was wondering if how he had reacted, become so angry in one second that had followed that cry of pain, if it had to do with Kagome. From what she knew of mates, there had been something she had heard of once, but it had been a rumor, like the one where a Miko would lose their powers upon having sex, about how mates could feel each other even if they weren't anywhere near each other. While she felt bad for Inuyasha, she also felt fear for what was happening to their missing friend. Had she died? She remembered that night that Kagome had gone missing the first time, the howl of absolute pain that had escaped the Hanyou, the same cry that had brought even his cold brother to their doorstep.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Sango inquired as she turned to look at Miroku. He nodded. He had a feeling that Sesshomaru would help his brother thru whatever was bothering him, whatever was making him change, but only time would tell. Kagome had always been the one to stop him, to bring him back to himself, but without her here there was only one that was strong enough and knew enough about what to do because even the monk felt that it had to do with the missing Miko. She couldn't be dead! There was no howl like there had been before, but something had happened and judging by the way the Hanyou had reacted, it had to be bad.

Sesshomaru stood close to his brother, watching with fascination at a transformation he had only seen one time and that had been a hard battle with the Miko coming to his aid. Even then she had shown strength, not just by standing up to him, but putting herself out there when his brother could have killed her. This form had no mind like his human half. It was just instincts and those instincts were to kill or be killed in this mode, but he felt that this time there was something more behind it. He had to have felt something happening to the missing female and he was reacting in the way that most demons would. Demons didn't abide with their mates being harmed, going to kill the ones responsible while at the same time making sure said mate was safe.

"Brother, if you change now then you won't be able to find her, even if you could smell her and I doubt you can, you would never be able to get to her without doing serious harm to yourself." A growl from the hunched over Hanyou was his only response, but it was more than he thought he would get. It only confirmed his own assumptions. This form wasn't like before, it was more intelligent and aware. "We're still at least a few days away and you're holding us up, holding yourself up from getting to your mate and your pups." He knew he was taunting a very pissed off male who was only reacting to what could be injuries being dealt to his missing mate. He was already on the edge since mates weren't supposed to be too far from each other for very long and for as long as they had been separated he was surprised neither had gone crazy before this. Either it was the influence of them being unaware of their status or they were indeed stronger than most mates.

"I w-will save her," he muttered, a growl following his words as he looked up into his brother's golden eyes, his own eyes flashing red and gold as he tried to temper his demon, make it understand that he wasn't going to allow anyone else to hurt her, her own pain dissolving thru their link as she blacked out and then all he felt was her power surging. It seemed to sooth his demon as his eyes returned to their golden glow and he was able to stand up with just a minor pain in his gut. She was alright now, her pain was almost gone now, her power was toning down as well signaling that whatever or whoever had hurt her was not a problem anymore. Or they were subdued after her power had surged. Giving his brother a shaky smirk they headed off to catch up with the others.


	37. Chapter 37

Kagome blinked, her eyes still feeling heavy after her sleep, before opening them to find herself on the ground of her room. With a yawn and a stretch she looked around and couldn't seem to figure out how she had gotten on the floor. Looking at the window she realized that it was already afternoon. Standing up she immediately sat down on her bed, her legs aching and her stomach rolling. That's when she noticed the blood that was on her hands and on the front of her dark dress. What the hell had happened? How had she gotten blood on her? Who's blood was it? Suddenly an image flashed in her head, the events of that early morning replaying before her eyes.

*Flashback*

"Don't think that I haven't forgotten about you, Miko," he rasped as his mouth slammed back on hers, his tongue penetrating her orifice in a motion that was meant to mimic the sexual act that he wanted to do to her. He pulled back from her mouth after what felt like hours, his mouth moving down to her jaw, his fangs nipping at her skin while he ground his lower body against hers so she could feel his hardness, his body's reaction to what he was doing. She tried to move her arms, tried to free herself from his grasp as his mouth moved lower, his hands moving down her arms as he neared where her mark was. What was he doing?! His fangs brushed against her mark and she felt something in her twist in both anger and revulsion, her pups reacting to the sudden invasion of what their father had left as a claim to their mother. The power that arched from her abdominal was stifled when his hand was removed from her arm to slam into her stomach...

*End of Flashback*

She looked back down at her hands, the blood dried and dark against her pale skin, as she realized what had happened. Her power had surged, her body had fought back involuntarily. She had killed him, hadn't she? Taking another glance around her room she found no trace of blood on the walls or on the floor, not even Naraku's body was in the room with her. Had it all been a dream? No, there was blood and that memory, though she couldn't recall much of what had happened afterward she knew that it wasn't a dream and that her children had been the driving force behind her attack. She went to touch her stomach, to make sure that they were all there, but the sight of the blood on her hands stopped her. She couldn't bring herself to touch her babies, even thru the clothing that was covered in blood and her own flesh, with his blood on her hands so quickly she rushed off to find a place to clean herself. There was a small bathroom in the hallway close to her room, a place that was as small as a closet, but would do for what she needed. Entering the small space she found the bowl that contained freezing cold water and a small cloth to wash her hands with, but even after getting it all off of her hands she still felt dirty.

Naraku was evil, had tried to rape her and had taken away the memories from a night that had produced her children, but she still felt sick to know that she hadn't just killed him... she had brutally murdered him! Sure, they had wanted to kill him, to remove him from this world to protect it, but that wasn't the way it would have gone down, not in such a vicious way. Standing there, her mind threw snapshots of his death, her hands coming forward to blast him with her power, the way his body had seemed to pop like a bubble and all the blood that had painted the walls.

She could see it all now, the look on his face as she had killed him, his heart still beating as he took shallow breaths, most of his skin burned beyond recognition while some of his body was gone, his innards exposed to her. The Miko had looked down at him, her eyes narrowed at what was left of him, but he was still smirking at her and that pissed her off! What did he have left to make him look at her like that and then she found out as his body began to regenerate. Something in the back of her mind told her to be afraid because if he could just regenerate his body than he could never die, but another part of it told her to kill him, kill him before he did come back and do far worse to her than what he had done before. Her babies were in danger if he got back up and so without a second thought she powered up even more, some of the previous powerup still flickering around her small form coming back to life.

"Such a dark look you have, Miko," he said, some blood dripping from his mouth. "So unlike a true Miko, like Kikyo who never dared to show such emotions when she was alive." She growled at him, her eyes flashing red at his words. How dare he compare her to Kikyo?! She was tired of being a copy and even more ticked off when being compared to the now dead Miko. She wasn't as powerful, sure, and she wasn't as pretty as the other woman, hell, she was far more emotionally unstable, but she wasn't KIKYO!

Leaning closer to him, feeling so pissed off as her grey blue eyes turned red bore into his own red eyes she said, "My name is Ka-go-me, you bastard." Her hands grasping his open heart, the blood pumping out onto her hands as she released a pink light into his heart. The next pump of his heart was the second to last as the pink power she had released moved thru his body, the glow visible thru her eyes as she watched the next pump flush it back up to his heart and then he let out a last breath, rasping as his lungs no longer could take in oxygen with the pink power that had ripped them to shreds...

"Miko," came a soft voice, almost feminine save for how rough it sounded. She turned in surprise to see one of the monsters before her, this one looked like something from the days of Caesar, her clothing covering up very little on her glossy blue body with just golden armor that covered her breasts and a golden armor skirt that barely covered her crotch. Her hair was hidden beneath a helmet made of the same material as the rest of the armor and her eyes were nothing but red holes in her face. She didn't act like the others. She was neither hateful or loud, just a monster that seemed uninterested with the world she was in or what she was sent to do. She just didn't care about any of it.

"What?" Kagome snapped, looking back down at her hands to ensure that there was no blood on her hands. She knew what it meant when a monster was sent to come and get her. Either she was going on another mission, not that she would call it that, or she was in trouble and without having to be told she knew it was the latter since there was no way that the Queen wasn't aware of the demise of Naraku.

"The Queen wants you down in the throne room," was all she said before turning to wait for the Miko. She hated that the monster would be escorting her, but there wasn't much she could do about it for the moment. After that use of power this morning she was still feeling drained, the powers of the castle keeping her power in check for the moment, but the moment she got a chance she would leave it and run as fast as she could. She didn't care that the Queen could find her, she just needed a few hours, even minutes outside and out of the evil that was baring down on her in this space. Walking past the monster she headed downstairs, the creature following close behind her. She was surprised that the Queen hadn't had her shackled for this meeting. No doubt the Queen would be punishing her for what she had done. It felt like forever as she travelled down the long hallways and stairs that led to the main floor where the throne room was, but once she got there she wished that she was still on the way down because the Queen didn't look angry, no really. She looked calm and that was worse. Stepping before her the monster didn't move away as they both faced the woman before them.

"Ah, so you came willingly, good," the Queen stated as she took a step out of the darkness that shrouded her throne to reveal that she had blood on her upper body and some on her face. Kagome cringed at the sight. What had happened? Had Naraku not been dead and the Queen had killed him instead? No, the Queen liked having the male at her disposal so that would make no sense. "Seems there was a little incident this morning in your room," she said coolly, watching the Miko for a reaction, but not waiting for an answer to her statement as she continued in that cold voice, her face impassive, "and while I am aware that he went there, even when I told him strictly that he wasn't to do that just yet..." she paused, watching as the realization of the situation crossed Kagome's features. She had wanted him to do that to her, even if it had happened earlier than the Queen had wanted it, she had still intended for Naraku to rape her! She wasn't shocked, but anger began to rise at the idea that this woman before her would think that she wouldn't kill the dark Hanyou for what he had tried to do! Like she was going to sit by and just open her legs and allow him to do this!

"You bitch!" she spat, feeling her powers rise in her body, even as they were still weak from the attack earlier where she had used far more power than she had ever done in her life. Before she could say another word the Queen was in her face, her nose almost touching Kagome's own as her clawed fingers dug into her neck.

"I don't know what it is with you, Miko," she said, her voice low as her fingers dug deeper into her flesh, blood dripping from the wounds. "Whether you are just stupid or too stubborn to understand that I own you. You are mine to do with as I see fit. If you won't bow down to me and do as I command then your death will come all the more quickly, days ahead of schedule." Kagome growled low, her fingers digging into the older woman's wrist, trying to remove the vicelike grip she had around her throat. Her throat was hurting while her lungs were burning with the lack of oxygen. "I was going to allow him to have fun with you in just a few days time, while your beloved mate was forced to watch." At her surprise the Queen cackled with joy. "Yes, I know that he's on his way and I know that in just a few days he would be at my door, looking for you and that's when he would see you. He would see you laying there before him, Naraku thrusting his slimy self into you before he took your precious babies right out of you!"

"F-F-Fuck-k y-yo-o-u," Kagome managed to wheeze as she felt her power surge under her skin, the Queen snarled at the faint smell of burnt flesh from her own hand. She powered up in response to Kagome's attack, her own power a blackness that roared to life around her, the evil aura pushing the Miko's own power back.

"I'm not into that," she spat. "You will be fucked though, in Hell!" Powering up further, her aura began to burn Kagome's skin, her cries stuck in her throat as the Queen's fingers tightened even more to the point that Kagome was sure that her spine was going to shatter. Her eyesight was fading, black tinging on the edges of her vision.

Inuyasha! Innnnuuyaaasha!

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The group had just turned the corner, having rushed as fast as they could after Inuyasha revealed that Kagome was in serious danger earlier that morning. The trip should have taken more days to travel, but upon hearing that the Miko was in danger that was potentially fatal the group had moved as fast as they could, Sesshomaru turning into his ball of light and rushing forward while Inuyasha scrambled quickly behind him. Kirara moved quickly to keep up with the other two demons, though Sesshomaru was significantly faster than any of them as he made his way toward the castle.

Inuyasha! Innnnuuyaaasha! He almost stumbled at the fear that was in his mate's voice, the finality of the way she called his name and the pain that he could feel scorching his skin as well as the pain that burned his lungs and throat. He pushed it back, trying to not let it cause him to delay in getting to her before her final breath was drawn... before he lost the love of his life and the pups they had yet to meet!

As soon as Sesshomaru hit the pathway of the castle he was bombarded with tons of monsters that seemed to ooze from out of the shadows of the tall structure forming bodies as they hit the ground. All of them were women with identical bodies, but he could tell that they more powerful than the ones that they had seen so far as the air around him seemed to thicken with the evil auras coming off of them. The sun began to fade as he drew closer, pulling his Bakusaiga as the final bit of light disappeared from the skies, he rushed into attack. The red, blob-like women rushed at him, some of them still oozing out of the walls behind the fully formed ones while others rained down from the skies. It was an all out attack, so many of them rushing to try and end him as he sliced his sword to tear them in half watching with sick satisfaction as they tried to pull themselves back together that failed as their bodies turned to dust mere seconds after his attack.

"Watch out!" Sango cried as she hopped off of Kirara, her boomerang tossed from her fingers and slicing several of them into shreds. Again, it seemed that with the new ability of her weapon the creatures were unable to come back together as they too turned to dust at her assault. It looked like it would be an easy battle, save for the fact that more and more of them were coming down from the skies and still more out from the walls of the castle. While Sango was attacking one group some of them from the skies hit her, her form disappearing under a sea of red. Miroku joined in the fray, his staff coming out to strike several of them as he made his way to his fiancée's side. As more of them approached their newest prey he pulled out sutras, the small slips of paper instantly destroying their forms, but he didn't have too many to use with this bunch so with a look to make sure his companions were clear he removed his beads, the sound of his wind tunnel roaring to life as it sucked up several of the monsters in his way. A cry from their Hanyou partner filled the air along with his sword as another group of the monsters were wasted.

"Leave us here to deal with this!" the monk yelled over to Inuyasha, more of the monsters pulled into his hand as he turned another way to get more of the creatures. "Kagome could be in serious trouble in there if these things were waiting for us!" The Hanyou nodded before blasting more of the creatures away, Sango freed from her grimy mess by Miroku's wind tunnel sucking up all the falling monsters, as he rushed toward the castle door. Letting his attack go, the door to the large structure falling with a loud boom, rocks falling before him to reveal the darkness of the entranceway. He didn't even hesitate to enter the empty space, no monsters or even a sound in the darkness of the room.

"Kagome!" he hollered, his voice echoing around him as he moved further into the darkness, his golden eyes searching the darkness for anything. He couldn't see too much, even with his eyesight the darkness wasn't natural, the evil of the castle brushing against his own aura. "Where are you?!"

"She's in a meeting with our Queen at the moment," came a voice, rough and yet feminine. He turned toward the sound, a shadow moving around in the darkness of the large entryway. There was what appeared to be a female form in a warrior's armor smirking at him from the darkness, her red orbs flashing from the light of a nearby candle on the wall. "Don't worry," it said, the smirk twisting into something more menacing. "You will meet her too, half breed, and then you can join that mate of yours." At her words he felt a sickening feeling in his stomach, his heart clenching at her words as his demon clawed to get out. "Oh, and you might get to see your babies, though they won't be calling for their daddy or mommy anytime soon."

With a growl he launched himself at her snarling, "Fuck you and your bitchy ass Queen!"


	38. Chapter 38

His sword came into contact with her own that she had pulled from her own flesh, the long blade the same blue color of her skin as it sparked against his own. Pushing her off of him, the blades sparking and screaking as they ran along each other echoed in the room as she came back at him, jumping off a wall to strike down at him again, his sword slashing out to stop her. It was like a stalemate, the pair of them could do no real battle in the small space and it was making him upset. He didn't have time for this! He needed to get to Kagome and find out if she was okay! As they dodged and parried in the small space he looked around, hoping that somehow he could use his Wind Scar or something in the space without taking down the structure around his ears, but there was no way since this was the very front and center of the castle. He would end up burying his mate in the rubble, if she wasn't conscious and the feeling that was in the back of his mind told him that she was on the very brink, the pain that came thru their link taking some of his attention from the fight before him. The opening that it gave allowed his opponent to strike his right arm, blood spurting out onto the cold rock beneath his feet.

"A little too preoccupied, half breed?" she queried with another smirk as she went back at him, her blade slicing the air before him when he jumped back to avoid another hit on his person. There wasn't much he could do here and he couldn't move the battle out of this space because of what was going on outside so he was stuck when his mind seemed to recall that he had a move that might be safe enough to use in the space without much damage to the structure. The problem with this move was he was still perfecting it, the last time he had used it had been against an opponent after just receiving it from his own brother's sword. In his mind he tried to picture it, the feel of it as his blade changed to the shock of his attacker, her red eyes watching with confusion and awe as the blade grew dark, small stars and what appeared to be the galaxies around them appeared on it. He continued to concentrate, his eyes opening to watch as the aura of his blade grew violet in color, the pulsing of it sending out the power it held so his opponent could feel it.

She took a step back but it was too late as he cried out, "Meidō Zangetsuha!" And with a slash of his blade, his feet leaving the floor as he jumped up to slice her from top to bottom, her body splitting down the middle as a hole appeared between her body, growing slightly and changing to match his blade as she found herself being pulled apart and into the space he had opened up. It pulled her in even as a scream left her lips, the sound of her pain echoing around him, but he paid no heed as he raced around the attack. It disappeared with the last of her form as he ran down a dark corridor, his nose to the air as he tried to sniff Kagome out. Her scent was very faint in the air, still fresh enough to tell him that she had been here recently and he followed it further into the darkness.

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Miroku fell to his knees, the kaazan burning on his flesh, the pain hitting his heart even thru the poison he had taken at the old man's place unable to take all the edge off his taking in so many monsters, their evil far stronger than those demons that Naraku had sent to him. He watched as Sango came to his aid, worry evident on her face as she tried to concentrate on taking down more of the blobs that transformed into women before them. They were dwindling a bit in numbers as Sesshomaru continued to slave away at striking down as many of them as he could, Kirara aiding as she too took large bites out of some of the creatures. It felt like a losing battle with how many of them that there had been and even with the fight that seemed to last forever there were still more than half that they had started out against. Hope was fading fast with only the three of them able to fight, the slayer's energy slacking with the exertion that she had used to keep up with the ones that had been raining down from above when suddenly the area behind them was filled with a war cry, several voices and howls reverberating in the air around them.

Glancing over his shoulder Miroku watched in both awe and shock as Koga came running with several hundred wolves and other demons quickly following. They raced past him, people they had met on the road including Minako and other children that had been at that village among the fighters that promptly went work with various weapons to decimating the enemy before them. Ayame rushed to his aid, fending off more of the red women that were coming for what they saw as a moving target, Gina and Hakkaku at her side fighting even as there was fear in their eyes upon seeing what they were fighting against. Even Rōyakan was with them, his large mouth opening to expel more wolves to help battle against the red monsters. It was a battle for the ages as all the people that the group had come in contact with aided in trying to take down the evil that threatened not only them, but the one woman who had touched them all.

Sango smiled at the fact that not only had Koga returned after what had happened with him in the group, but he had brought others to help them fight against the Queen and her monsters that had roamed far and wide, killing not only humans, but demons as well. Even the little foxes that had participated in a test with Shippo were there, their tricks enough to weaken or keep the attention of the monsters as others quickly destroyed the offending women. The slayer's mouth fell open though when a scythe-like weapon passed close to her, striking a monster that had been almost upon her. She turned to find her brother among the large mass of fighters, his eyes turning from her in guilt while also striking down more of the monsters. She couldn't believe it! After all the searching she had done her brother was before her, his eyes betraying his feelings. He remembered it all! The death of his father at his own hand, the killing of his people, all of it! She mourned for him, for the innocence that he had lost that day, the fact that he had been under Naraku's rule killing others at the evil Hanyou's command. She mourned what his life had become after that dark night so long ago and she yearned to go to his side, but judging by the look he had shot her, was still shooting her every few seconds, that he wasn't ready. He didn't seem to believe that even thru all this that he deserved forgiveness and the love of his only remaining family at his side.

Turning back to the task at hand she vowed that he would know that she forgave him, that she didn't see him as unlovable and that he had more family waiting for him to join them. It was just a matter of time, after all they were at the final battle, she could feel it.

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It didn't take very long to find the room that held the Queen's throne with the power that was being unleashed upon the Miko as it shuddered with all the evil being poured out from it. Turning toward the door he could feel the evil coming thru the stone doors, the heat and cold that clashed at that doorway and without a second thought he threw it open, the sight before him breaking his heart, tears burning his eyes as his demon howled in anger and anguish. Kagome lay on the floor, motionless before a woman he had never seen before but he knew without a doubt was the queen herself. Her dark hair fell past her waist, the black mass hiding her face from his view, but he could only imagine that she looked triumphantly down at the Miko, having dealt a fatal blow to his mate. Hearing the door open she turned to him and he was right, she looked quite content with herself, her black orbs glimmering with joy at the motionless woman before her. "Well, well, well," she said in a mocking tone, her blue lips twisting maliciously at his angry appearance. "You came far earlier than I had even thought, half breed." She looked back down at Kagome, her laughter echoing around her before she spoke, her voice so filled with hate as she looked at the one woman, the one person who could have annihilated her, the woman before her that had only managed to destroy her physical form nothing but a weakling compared to the Miko.

"You fucking bitch!" he hissed, his fangs glinting at her in the semi-lit room. She only laughed at him, her eyes twinkling with mirth at his words.

"So, that is where the pure female learned such vulgar language." She was acting as if she had been just a caretaker of his mate, a friend that had sheltered the Miko from the outside taint when she in fact had done the tainting, with the help of one missing person. "I can see by your eyes that you are wondering about the one known as Naraku." When she received no answer she just shrugged. "He was supposed to be here when you came," she stated, almost looking regretful for the absence of the dark Hanyou. "But the cunt on the floor, the pure Miko that you came to save from her fate, killed him in cold blood." A mirthless chuckle escaped from her lips. "After all that I had planned for all of you, she went and destroyed him and left me with very little choice but to punish her before you got here." Her words were full of disgust and anger as she narrowed her eyes on the woman still laying so still before him, the power of the Queen still pulsing around her. "Don't worry, half breed, she still lives... for now, but she will remain in that state, reliving all the ugliness that I have shown her until she dies from the heart break of it all. The fact that she believes you didn't love her as she loved you, that she worried about how her children would be treated by you and the simple fact, the most heart breaking of all for her," she said, coldness in her tone as she turned her attention to him, "That she couldn't protect those same little ones and she was so clos-"

Before she could finish that sentence Inuyasha rushed at her, his blade striking her skin while at the same time he was thrust back by her evil barrier, a bit of blood leaking from the wound on her cheek. She frowned, her blue slender fingers reaching up to touch the spot he had managed to touch, the mar with his blade. Of course with a strange wind that seemed to come from the far corner of the room, a white mist coming from that same spot her skin was healed and all that was left from it was blood that still slid down her face.

"Ah, so much better," she breath dropping her hand and glaring at him. "I never knew about the powers of that sword, Naraku held no such memory and the woman, well, she had so many other things on her mind." She approached him, her barrier flickering around her, not like Naraku's which had held tight like a ball of purple light. "I was hoping that he would have been here, feasting upon her when you came to call upon her, but as I said she killed him." Snapping her fingers a body appeared next to Kagome's still form. It was what was left of Naraku, his body just a mashed up bit of flesh, his face still visible even with the burns that marked his features. "She used way too much energy to kill him, leaving her vulnerable to my punishment for her actions, but then again, she seems to be a stubborn little bitch. Thinking that you would come for her or that she could somehow get away from my castle." She tsked now, looking back at the body of the Miko. "She would have made a good weapon, especially once I killed her babies."

He growled low in his throat at the mention of her plans for not only his mate, but for his pups. "She would never have allowed it," he spat, his blade pulsing with the need to kill this woman, his demon cursing her existence and him for allowing her to become a slave to this evil woman. She by far outranked Naraku, making the now dead male look like an peon compared to her own evil and power. He could feel it in the room, brushing up against his own aura that still flickered with Kagome's own Miko powers. He blinked. When had that happened? When had her powers come to him, engulfing him in her own protection. He looked over at her form, watching for the one sign that she was still able to do that and he almost fell over when her eyes looked back at him, flickering between the grey blue that came from her tainted form, to the chocolaty brown that he had come to love upon seeing her for the first time. She was fighting, the darkness that still swirled around her form, her skin burning and healing in a cycle that never seemed to end, but now that he knew she was trying he could fight with the strength that she was giving him.

Without warning he struck out at the woman before him, her cocky smirk disappearing when the pure energy from the weakened Miko burst from his sword, the blade turning pink as it cut thru her barrier. With a screech of pain she shot backward, her barrier failing to return where he had struck it, her eyes flashing in anger as she cried out for something he couldn't see until they were upon him, all the monsters that had been in the darkness running forward in an attempt to bring down the Hanyou that had dared to strike their master. Inuyasha turned toward them, his blade at the ready to destroy them when voices and the sounds of footsteps echoed outside the entryway to the throne room. He paid them no mind, ready to strike down the ones that were trying to keep him from his mate, but before he could swing his sword his brother shot before him, his blade taking down several of the monsters with a single strike, the power of the blade hitting the wall behind them with such force that it shook.

"Trying to take on all these monsters yourself, brother?" he inquired with a smirk, the slayer rushing past them, her boomerang raised in one hand while her katana thrust out in front of her, the larger weapon being utilized as a shield as she knocked a few of the monsters off of her with it. Miroku rushed by his other side, Kohaku hot on his heels as they struck down more of the monsters, the sounds of battle resounded around them. More of his allies burst in behind them, thrashing monsters left and right, his own golden gaze turning to the one woman that still held his mate captive and would continue to do so until he struck her down.

"So, Queen of the Void, seems that you didn't count on such a large force to counter your own," he gloated, her eyes wide as she took in the massacre of her own creatures, their cries mingling with the sounds of weapons clashing and feet moving in tune to the strikes. She was overwhelmed, the fight from before for the diamond that would have given her power flashing in her mind. The princess standing before her on the frozen land, so dark with her own energy before a flash of light blinded her, the woman before her grasping the diamond in her hands as she stood alone before her... or so it had appeared when more people came to her side. The woman had stood her ground, a sad look on her determined face as the others gathered around her with the same looks of resolve on their face. Powering up she had managed to strike down so many of them that had come to the princess' aid, their cries unheeded by her or the princess, but she hadn't given up, no, the woman who had been pure like the Miko that still lay before her had struck back.

"I don't care if the whole world were to be standing before me with the intent to strike me down," she hissed. "I would kill every last person and still be standing before them in all my glory," she taunted, her face becoming impassive as she tried to tamp down the fear that sizzled across her flesh. "I don't even care if my body dies, because I will find another and I will be born again while you all lay in your own blood without a breath leaving your body." Her laughter echoed around them all all the other sounds fell silent, the monsters of the woman before them all laying on the ground dead while others disappeared into dust at the warriors' feet. She looked out at all the faces before her, still laughing at their outrage, their anger fueling her to continue in her killing. "You will all fall at my feet, joining that wretched Miko who dared to defy the one evil that surpasses all that you could even imagine!" she cried out, her laughter dying for a moment. "Even that fucking bastard Naraku could never hold a flame to what I can do!"

Without forewarning she powered up, the castle around them shaking with the force of her evil, mists of grey swirling around her, drawing the remains of her monsters toward her as she grew, her body towering above them as the structure around them crumbled. Inuyasha rushed over to Kagome, his hands moving to grab her, the evil scorching his palms forcing him to pull back, but he wouldn't allow her to be harmed as more of the walls broke, the rocks tumbling. The others rushed to leave the space, save for his group who hesitated in their worry for the fallen Miko. "Get out of here!" he snapped, Sango and Miroku looked at each other, still unsure of leaving the pair behind. "We'll be fine," he assured them moving to stand over his mate, his pants staying intact as the flames tried to burn him. When it appeared that what he said was true, that they would be fine with him left alone with her, they headed off, looking back one more time before exiting the collapsing building.

They all looked up, the sight of the evil Queen a horror to gaze at as her skin turned a colder blue, her black eyes narrowing and changing to the point that not a speck of white was left in them, her power swirling around her. She was now standing tall, the rubble of her castle surrounding her feet while some it still stood tall behind her even as more of it crumbled it. She stood nearly twenty feet tall, her hair swirling around her with the power of her aura. She had made the decision that had destroyed her home, but she cared not since she would rebuild once they were all dead at her feet. The ground that had once been the castle floor pushed her up higher, their head craning further back to keep her in sight, some of the warriors backing away from the sight, afraid of what she would do with them so close to her form. "Stand strong!" Koga yelled, his own men sticking close to him while others looked among themselves with worry clear in their gazes. This was it... death or victory for their would be nothing if they retreated from this ultimate battle.

Around them the air swirled, more of the grey mist being pulled from the downed monsters, some of the men and women in the large mass backing away from the bodies, their blood the only thing left as their powers, their life force being absorbed by the woman's imposing frame before them. "Be ready!" Sesshomaru called out, looking for his ward and Jaken before noticing that they were not on the battlefield around him. He tried to push it out of his mind, the belief that his lackey had done his job and had taken the small child out of the danger zone. Turning his attention back to the woman before him he watched in surprise as a pink light shot out from the rubble below her, the gleam of it growing brighter as it struck the Queen in the shoulder, a cry of pain screeching out of her parted lips. She turned to see who would dare strike her, the purity of the hit not lost on her. Her blood spilled down, pooling in the rocks below her.

Everyone looked over in shock to see Inuyasha with a worn out Kagome at his side, her body supported by his arm around her waist. There was no weapon in her hands, just a bright pink glow that emanated from her hands that were still outstretched, shaking with the weakened state of her body. She glared up at the evil woman, her eyes now brown and all her wounds healed for the most part. "I thought you could read my thoughts, bitch," she spat with fury, "If that were the case then you should know that I won't allow you to continue to hurt my friends or my family!" Her whole body lit up with a bright pink light, the darkness gone from her aura where it had once tainted the brilliant rosy color. The Queen growled in annoyance.

"How did yo-" she stopped, snarling at the one who just wouldn't die. "Never mind how you got out of my power, you will die!" Rushing forward, her body arching to attack the Miko with outstretched hands sparking with power she struck out, her power flaring over the barrier that kept the pair safe. It crackled with the invasion of her evil, but didn't waver as Inuyasha held up his blade, still glowing pink with Kagome's power while a red tint shimmered on the blade itself with his own demonic power. Looking toward Inuyasha she nodded and he pulled back his blade as more of her power moved toward her fingertips, the light so bright that it almost appeared white in color. Everyone watched, trying to see what was happening while not being blinded by the power pouring out from her fingers when something even stranger happened as the Queen tried attack again. In the middle of that orb of power appearing at her fingertips appeared a smaller orb that glowed almost violet in color. It flashed black for a second before radiating pink with the outer part of Kagome's power.

"The Shikon no Tama?" the pair asked together, watching the fully formed stone glimmer and shine, the Queen screaming when the power at Kagome's hands burst forth, Inuyasha striking out with his blade only seconds later. Some of the people watching from below this event shielded their eyes while others turned away as the whole battlefield went white, like a blank sheet of paper where nothing was seen. The only sound that could be heard was a wail of pain, the scent of burnt flesh filling the noses of all those that stood by, most of them covering their sensitive appendages at the disgusting odor just moments before they felt the warm coat of blood that seemed to explode from the fight between the three beings before them.

The light faded slowly, revealing the pedestal that the Queen had been standing on, nothing perched on it but blood that leaked down it slowly as it pooled at the base. All eyes turned toward the pair that still stood there, not a drop of blood on them even as it flowed around them in their barrier. Cheers broke out, Sango pulling Miroku into her arms as her lips slammed down on his. The evil was gone, evident by her absence, the blood and the evil that was dissipating in the air. No one saw Inuyasha turn to Kagome, the jewel of four souls falling into her hands as her power died, her body sagging against his for a moment as she stared at the small pearl that had brought so many pain, including the male still standing at her side. His mouth was moving, but she heard nothing of it as she managed to grasp the stone tightly in one hand, the darkness claiming her yet again, a smile still on her lips as he caught her, worry in his voice as he cried out, "Kagome!?"


	39. Chapter 39

Kagome walked into the hot springs, her ears listening for the door closing behind her before removing her clothing, tossing each article to the corner of the room as the heat from the spa's steam warmed her body. She sighed in contentment of the feeling of being out of her sticky smelly clothing. Heading for the spring itself, her footsteps echoing in the medium sized room louder than the sound of the door opening she failed to notice that someone else had came in the room, their form so still one would think it were a statue. Kagome groaned as her first foot touched the almost too hot water of the spring, her body shivering with pleasure. This hot spring was soooo much warmer than the others they had come across and she wondered about that as her other foot joined in the warm of the water.

"Ohh..." she husked as she stepped further into the waters until they were at her navel, the steam making her skin glisten. She wished more of the springs were like this even as her mind drifted off somewhere deep in her heart, a yearning for another hot touch... the one of a certain silver haired male. She yearned for his hands, his mouth to be where the water was, his appendages the warmth she felt on her thighs and navel. Sinking into the water before disappearing under the surface she failed to hear the rustle of clothing or the steps of a male walking toward the water where she was until she came up, her back still toward the entrance, towards the intruder just behind her until his hands wrapped around her upper body, his claws touching her breasts softly. She gasped, immediately trying to turn to see who was with her, but he wouldn't allow her, not yet as his mouth curved around her hair and his mouth pressed softly against her neck... kissing and sucking softly. She groaned, a warmth pooling in her lower region. It felt so good, his mouth working its magic on her body, but he said nothing and she really needed to know who was touching her, bringing her such pleasure so again she tried to turn, pulling away to look up into golden orbs.

Her mouth fell open upon seeing that Inuyasha was before her, his hands on her waist with such lust and something else gleaming in his golden eyes. She tried to say his name, but he stole it with the crash of his lips on hers. Taking advantage of her open mouth he stuck his tongue into her mouth, her body relaxing as he explored her mouth, taking time to taste it all as she groaned, her hands finally moving from her sides and onto his arms. She moved them up, enjoying the feel of every twitch of his muscles, the feeling so wonderful and leaving her moaning in excitement...

The Miko sat up, her body drenched in sweat and a tingling that encompassed her whole frame with a sexual warmth. "Kagome?" came a soft voice to her right and she turned to see Sango looking so worried, her brown eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Are you okay?" Kagome said nothing, just nodding as she looked beyond the slayer to see a door, the flap blowing slightly with a strong breeze. It was dark outside the flap, which meant either she had been out until nightfall or...

"How long?" she asked, her hands falling onto her stomach which almost gave her an answer since it was much fuller now, more rounded.

"About a week," was the simple response and noting that Kagome began to look around with almost a tenseness about her. She seemed to be off in thought even as she scanned the small space of Kaede's hut where only the slayer was with her. It then hit the slayer that maybe Kagome was looking for the others... or maybe just Inuyasha as he had been standing next to her in that battle, their combined power the final hit that the Queen had needed to finally be gone. Her spirit no longer roamed the earth... Probably in Hell with Kikyo, she thought with a small smile. "Miroku is at the square with Kaede showing the newest members of the village around and Sesshomaru has left with Rin and Jaken," she stated before pausing to make sure that Kagome was listening. The raven haired woman was looking at her and seemed to be listening so she continued, "The rest of the fighters have gone back home, some of them like Koga are going to go back to that area and help some of the villages that were hit by her monsters. Isn't that funny. Never thought I would see the day when he would help humans with demon mates."

"Yeah... Never thought he would be so willing to do something so nice," the Miko said, sounding drained and yet, she sounded tense, like she was on edge and could run at any moment.

"Inuyasha is helping Koga, though he wanted to stay here and watch over you," Sango said watching for the reaction she expected and wasn't disappointed when Kagome visibly relaxed, turning towards the door again. "What's wrong, Kagome? You know you can tell me." She couldn't believe that the Miko would keep anything from her. They had always shared everything, no matter how big or how small. "Kohaku is safe too." She expected her friend to react, but it wasn't quick in coming and then suddenly she seemed to come back to herself as she smiled at her friend.

"That's great news, Sango!" she cried sounding excited for her friend, but her mind was on the escape. She needed to get away from her... from him. "Um, I kinda want to go back to my home, ya know, to let my mother know that everything is okay?" Sango blinked. She had almost forgotten how long Kagome had been from her family and completely understood. She nodded slowly, almost mechanically.

"Yeah, I understand. Let's go," she said, standing up before holding her hand out for her friend. Kagome almost told her no, but figured she could just trick her friend, the thought immediately bringing guilt to the surface, though she held her face in place, hiding what she was thinking from the slayer. Smiling at her she looked around, spotting her bag and then it occurred to her that they now had the complete jewel so quickly she glanced in the bag to find the stone that had caused so much trouble lay on the top right where she could see it. Closing the top she followed Sango out of the hut and into the cool night. It didn't take long for the pair to reach the well, silence still hung between the two when Sango said something, "Wait, are you sure that you won't hurt yourself jumping into the well or even getting out on the other side."

"Oh, well, my mom put a ladder in the well on my side, so that should be no problem," she remarked. "As for jumping in, that should be no problem." She touched her stomach. "These pups are like their da-" she stopped, her eyes trying to fill with tears even as she willed them away. "Well, their demonic blood should protect us, after all it's not just a fall. I float down on the other side." She could see the torment in her friend's brown eyes, darkness not a problem with her new demonic eyesight. "Sango, trust me I will be alright." When the slayer finally accepted her words and waited by her as she looked down into the well Kagome began to wonder if she was doing the right thing. Why didn't she ask Inuyasha about whether he wanted the babies or not? Because, I mean look at the way he reacted to the fact that you were pregnant and then when he found out they were his?! He didn't look happy! That was true. He hadn't seemed to be happy about that revelation and her kids deserved more, even if they never would have a father figure. If she ever found another man and she doubted she would ever feel about anyone like she did Inuyasha, then they would have to love her children too. It was not a solo act!

Finally saying good-bye to her friend she climbed over the lip of the well and hopped off and into the void. Sango watched her friend disappear from view in a flash of blue light before heading back to the village, hitting the tree line when another glow of blue light lit up the area and Kagome climbed back out of the well, leaving her yellow bag in the bottom with regret before heading off in the opposite direction of the village. I'm such a coward, she bemoaned in her mind as she looked back at the well a final time before turning back to head off into the darkness. She yearned to return to her time, even knowing that she would give birth to children who would not fit in in her world seemed trivial for a moment when she thought of all she was leaving and she wasn't thinking of all the material things. No, she was leaving behind her mother, who didn't even know she was going to be a grandmother, much less of what had come of her daughter after weeks and weeks of absence as well as her brother or her grandfather.

She regretted that she couldn't go back, not when she had made a promise to keep her children safe by not going back there and that was only because of Sesshomaru making her promise otherwise she would have gone back and found a way for her children to lead normal lives in her time. It was a futile thought because she knew it would neve have happened. Her children would stick out even more in her time with what she could only hope they would look like. She would love them even when they were going to be different and not even in just appearance, but also because like their father they would be stronger than the other kids. No, this was the best plan and she continued to walk down the path with the moonlight leading her way. She wished that she wasn't wearing the Kami awful dress she was wearing, blood still staining it from Naraku's death and the demise of the Queen. Sighing as she walked she hoped that she would find a place soon because there was a chance she was too far along in her pregnancy to be travelling. Taking a turn she found herself groaning in pain as a twitch in her lower stomach twisted thru her body.

"Fuck," she gasped, willing the pain to pass, a hope that it wasn't what she thought it was. Soon it faded, but a feeling in her heart told her that she better find help now because she might be going into labor. Taking a deep breath she moved quicker, again hoping that she found a place soon.

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... Taking advantage of her open mouth he stuck his tongue into her mouth, her body relaxing as he explored her mouth, taking time to taste it all as she groaned, her hands finally moving from her sides and onto his arms. She moved them up, enjoying the feel of every twitch of his muscles, the feeling so wonderful and leaving her moaning in excitement. She tasted so delicious, like she smelled. Right now he could smell her arousal perfuming the air with intoxication that not even the sake could give him. Feeling drunk on her smell and the taste of her in his mouth he dug his fingers into her hips, his claws marking her skin and the smell of her blood drawing his demon even closer to the surface as those same claws grew longer. She gasped when his elongated fangs nipped her lip, but she didn't pull back, a moan of satisfaction escaping into his mouth.

He pulled back, but only to press kisses to her jaw, his teeth nipping at the feature he was currently perusing as he hands began to move, his claws just barely touching her as he stroked her sides. Goosebumps broke out and the woman before him shivered as she drew out in a whimper of need, "I-Innnuuuyaaassshaaa." His body grew tighter at her enunciation of his name, that same part of his body rocking against hers once as he growled.

"Kagome," he rasped back as he pulled himself away from her, his hands falling to her hips again. She whined softly when he stopped, her eyes still shut as she continued to enjoy the tingling in her body, her lower body feeling slick even in the water. "Kagome," he said again, his lips brushing against hers, hoping that she would open her eyes and look at him. He had something important to tell her and he wanted her to pay close attention. She slowly opened her eyes, as if they were to heavy to lift. Struggling to keep his demon at bay he words came out ragged, "Kagome, I want you to know that it's you that I want, you that I love." She smiled at him, her lips red from kissing.

"I love you too, Inuyasha." Smiling with happiness that she had spoken the words that he had feared she would never say in such a situation, that she was so willing to be standing before him in all her sweet glory giving herself to him. He crushed her to his body, his mouth covering hers with passion that seemed to burn in his veins as the purple slashes of his demon form appeared on his face, his hands moving with more need, more urgency to feel the entirety of her body. She followed suit, her small hands moving over his creating tingles of pleasure that brought him higher and higher when...

The Hanyou sat up straight as pain that was vastly different than the kind that came from manual labor tore thru his stomach, pulsing over his body in such a way that it was slightly unsettling. He looked around him, noting that it was still nighttime, the shapes of the Koga and his men littered around the large space, but something in the back of his mind told him he needed to leave, that there were more important matters to take care of right now. What was it? What was that pain?

"Kagome," he breathed, realization that something was off with his mate. Rushing to the door he took off down the path without a word to any of the others in the camp, his mind stuck on the fact that Kagome was in pain and he didn't know why. He hadn't wanted to go with the wolf leader, wishing to stay by his mate's side as she lay unconscious, but Sango had pointed out that Kagome wasn't in the best shape. Not only had she expelled so much energy, but she was hurting because she believed he didn't want her and the words of the Queen came to mind.

"The fact that she believes you didn't love her as she loved you..."

But he did love her! He had loved her for far too long, waiting to say something to her and not because of what everyone thought was the reason. He hadn't loved Kikyo, hadn't wanted the dead Miko. He had been feeling so bad about her death and then her resurrection had made him even more distraught. Hell, he had tried to get her to give back her part of the soul to Kagome, pleading with her that the other Miko needed it. He had felt bad when she had pointed out that she would have to die. That he was asking her to die again. He had been so torn since he had caused the death of the first person to treat him different, but he also felt guilty because he had failed her leading to her death and was betraying her by running off to be with her reincarnation so quickly. He hadn't known what to do, but he had loved Kagome as much as he could without being with her as he desired.

"...she worried about how her children would be treated by you..."

He had been envisioning life with her, mated to her with little pups running around underfoot... seeing her so radiant as she swelled with his child, but had thought that she wouldn't allow him that honor, that joy of being her mate. She could have any guy, that was evident with all the suitors that seemed to flock to her, why would she want him. The man who had tried to kill her upon laying eyes on her. The male who had belittled her because of his own conflicted emotions. He had treated her so terribly so why would she allow him to call her his? Allow him to father her children? To touch her in such an intimate way?

All of that didn't matter right now! He had to get to her, to protect her! After that he would give her space if she still wanted it, but he would prove to her that he loved her! He would make her see that he wanted her and his pups!


	40. Chapter 40

The moon started to fade as the sun began to peek over the horizon, Kagome moving slower than she had hours before, the pain nothing too bad, just annoying her and causing her body to both tremble and tense. She felt so tired, so worn out from walking for hours in hopes of both finding help and to get away from Kaede's village all at once. The Miko's powers seemed to fluctuate with every contraction and Kagome worried that the flux of it would lead the others to find her. Even without her scent to guide the Hanyou as she had smothered her aura to make it harder to track as soon as she had jumped out of the well, they would surely feel the power of hers trying to break free. She desired a moment to rest, but the last time she had tried it had only proved to cause her more discomfort, her contractions becoming less uncomfortable with the movement of her steps. Those same contractions were getting closer, maybe a minute or two between them as they crashed over her and she knew it was almost too late. She would be out in the middle of nowhere giving birth in the feudal era, the very thought making her worry more about what she would do if that happened.

She knew it was how it was to be even if she had gone home. There was no way she could give birth in a hospital, but at she had at least hoped to have her mother or even someone she knew by her side. Her legs shook as another contraction struck her and with a gasp she moved to find a spot to sit when the sound of voices reached her ears. "Help!" she cried out, the voices still continuing as if they had not heard her. "Is somebody there? Please!" Looking up when the voices came closer she noted with relief that it was a pair of women, one of whom looked to be pregnant as well. When the first one saw her she turned to her friend before pointing at the downed Miko who was now leaning against a lone tree on the side of the road.

"Oh, my Kami," the pregnant woman cried as they came to her side, her friend, a dark haired woman, crouching before her with a concerned look on her face. The pregnant woman, her red hair gleaming in the sun as it rose higher on the horizon pulled out a flask before handing it to Kagome who took it quickly, downing a good deal of it greedily, her body accepting the relief of the cool water as passed her lips. "Are you very far along?" It seemed that the pregnant woman could tell she was in labor, though she was mildly surprised since she knew she looked like she had just been in a very bloody fight.

"About a-a minute or so apart," she gasped as another contraction hit. They looked at each other with very concerned looks before the dark haired woman rushed off down the road leaving the two pregnant women alone. "Where is she going?" Kagome asked, wondering for a moment if the other woman was going to find help. Surely, none would be found before she gave birth.

"You're lucky," the other woman stated with a soft smile. "Our village is just around the corner and with you being a Hanyou you're even luckier." The Miko blinked at those words. Had she found a village like those that had been so close to the castle of the Queen? "And we have a Miko visiting as well so even better for you." Kagome couldn't believe her good fortune. Not only had she found help, but a village with a Miko in residence was more than she could even dream of.

"Kagome?" a female asked, the voice so familiar that when she turned to look the woman from before was back with an older woman at her side, those brown eyes looking with worry at her. Before her with the women who had rescued her was Kaede, the older woman kneeling beside her as some men appeared at her side. "What are ye doing out here?" When she noted the sweat that was streaking the younger Miko's face she shook her head, dismissing her question, at least for the moment, before turning to one of the men. "Genta, help her to the village, to that hut on the edge of the village." The taller, more muscular male of the two doing as he was asked as he hefted her into his arms bridal style. As he walked by Kaede she said, "We'll talk later."

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It had taken nearly all his energy and most of the morning to get close enough to Kaede's village, the sight of it at the bottom of the hill making him sigh in relief as he continued down the hill as fast as he could. While running his nose picked up on a familiar smell, the smell of Miroku and Sango, the smell of their sweat coming from close to where he was, but there was no scent of his mate with them. Confusion flickered in his eyes as he changed directions, going parallel of the village to find the pair from his group. It didn't take him too long to find them, to understand why the smell of their sweat was so strong as the pair were sparring with each other. With the defeat of the Queen Miroku no longer had his wind tunnel, her absorption of Naraku's life force keeping the curse going after the death of the spider demon. He stopped just at the edge of the clearing, watching for a moment and wondered briefly if the fear he had felt had just been his own imagination in overdrive. After all, he had just rescued her and then was forced to leave her side to ensure that she didn't have any more setbacks over their new relationship.

Kirara was close by, her head raising when she smelled him reach the clearing. He shook his head at her, giving her the answer to the question in her eyes since she too could smell his own feelings as he could others. Snorting she put her head back down to rest as her human partner continued to spar with the monk. With each second that passed Inuyasha thought about leaving, but he could feel that strange feeling from earlier still pushing at him, willing him to understand whatever it was trying to convey so he hollered at the pair, "Hey! Where the hell is Kagome?" Sango seemed just as surprised to see him as the monk with her, both of them turning to walk towards him.

"She said she wanted to visit her mom, so she went home just last night," was the slayer's response, the monk remaining silent as he watched the Hanyou, noting a look of irritation flickering across his features. Sango narrowed her gaze at the silver haired male. "Inuyasha, you know that her mother is probably worried sick about her! She hasn't been home in nearly two months and she's pregnant too! Don't you think her mother should know about that?!" His ears went down for a moment, but remembering what his brother had said to the Miko echoed in his mind.

"Do you not recall what my brother said to her?" At the confusion on their faces he guessed that they had truly forgotten the older male's command of the Miko when learning that she not only was pregnant, but she was turning into a half demon and having his pups. "He told her not to go back home!" Sango sighed.

"She's not staying there, Inuyasha, sheesh," the slayer stated with annoyance in her tone. "She knows that she can't go back home permanently, but a quick visit shouldn't be too much to ask after all we all thought she would be going home eventually, even if we wanted her to stay here." His ears dropped even further down at that thought. Yeah, that had been a thought that had crossed his mind as well, more of a fear since he wanted her to stay here with him. He would have gone to her time if need be, but he also knew that if he did stay in that time he would never fit in, not really. He couldn't leave the house without a disguise and while he had taken in some of her time's traditions he knew that like this era he wouldn't be able to work to help support them. No, it would be better if she stayed here and so with a nod at them he rushed off to the well to wait for her. Hopefully she would be back that night, but when he got to that well that connected their times her scent still clung to the air, stale but still there and that was unusual.

Usually when the woman from the future left thru the portal of time her scent went with her, leaving nothing lingering in the air so leaning over the lip of the well he wondered if she had come back and was still down there. His mouth fell open when he spotted her yellow bag at the bottom of the shaft. "Fuck!" he cursed, the thought that she had come back and when no one had been there to help her had used the bag as a way to escape the bottom of the dry well came to mind, but then where was she? He lifted his nose to the air, her scent only in the bottom of the shaft, none of it in the air of the clearing. "Where the hell is she?" Grumbling he decided that the best course of action was to go to her time and check with her mother. Surely her mother knew what had happened to her daughter, that the woman maybe had gone back when she couldn't get out of the well, but that left the question as to why the bag was still in there. Jumping into the future without a second thought, only the hope that his mate were safe and truly not in danger while he was running around looking for her.

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The Miko was in fact rather close to where the well was, even if it was a at least a half a day's walk to where the village she was currently at, she was still close enough that had he been able to smell her he would have been there for the beginning of her labor. Thankfully they had given her a change of clothing, the brown kimono she wore halfway hidden under the cream colored blanket that covered her stomach and legs as Kaede checked to see how far along she was, her grey head peaking over the end of the cloth. "Well it looks like ye are fully there, Kagome." The Miko groaned, ready to have her babies and finding that at the same time she was afraid. She didn't know the first thing about being a mother and to top it off they were half demon and while she had raised Shippo for a few years she had never dealt with a demonic child. "When ye feel a pressure on ye stomach ye will need to push and when it goes then ye stop, okay?" Kagome nodded, a pressure immediately felt after Kaede's words. Beside her was the red head from before, a pot of water on the fire before her as another woman, a wolf demon with bright blond white hair stood on the other side seeming to be watching what was happening with a keen eye.

Was this demon here to learn how to assist in giving birth or was she just one of the villagers helping Kaede? She didn't know and at the moment she found that while she was curious she didn't truly care as another contraction ripped thru her. She didn't know how long this would last, no information on this period in her life save for her mother's stories of how it was different with each birth, her own only lasting about ten hours while her brother had been almost twice that long. Shivering at the thought that she could be here for a whole day she prayed as another contraction forced her to push down again that it would less than either of those numbers since she was still so tired from the night of walking.

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When Inuyasha landed on the other side of the well, he found his fear elevated and worry right on its heels. There was no fresh scent in the air of his mate, her smell seemed to be several hours old, almost as if she had only been here the night before and only for a few minutes at most. What had she done? Had she tricked the slayer so she could run away?! Did she really not want to be with him? His ears dropped at the thought that while Sango and Miroku had been insistent that she loved him that she would run from him, but if she truly believed the words woven into her mind by the Queen then she really saw him as a male that didn't want her or their pups. Debating for a moment on checking in with Kagome's mother, sure that the woman was worried about her missing child he decided that it could wait. He would break the agreement between Sesshomaru and the Miko so that she could see her mother at least once before he implored her to stay by his side, to give him a chance to prove to her that he wanted her and their pups. Those plans changed when he jumped up to the lip of the well, ready to turn back and go to his time when a voice stopped him.

"Inuyasha?" The Hanyou turned to find Sota there, his eyes wide at the appearance of the silver haired male. Before he could say a word though the younger male rushed to grab him, fear and worry mixing in with his natural scent and the Hanyou paused. "Where is my sister? Is she okay?" Even his words held the feelings that tinted his scent and Inuyasha found that he needed to sooth the boy's fears and with that complete then Sota could tell his mother so he told the boy that his sister was fine, just resting on the other side after their battle. Not a complete lie, but not the full truth either. He felt the brother of his mate relax his grip, his body slacking with the news that his sister was alright. "When will she come back? Mom is super worried about her."

"I will bring her back here as soon as she feels better, okay?" Nodding at the older male he smiled, watching as the Hanyou disappeared into the well.

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A few short hours found Kaede pulling the first pup from between her legs, the cries of the newborn filling the small space as the demon next to her took the child from the older Miko's hands with the clean cloth over to the other woman waiting with a wet cloth from the warm water in the pot, the fire growing lower as she allowed it to die a bit. Kagome's brown eyes followed her first child, the small child's form hidden from her view. Kaede's words brought her back to the present, "Ye have a beautiful baby girl, Kagome." Smiling for just a moment before another contraction reminded her that she still had more pups waiting to be born she pushed again, another cry joining her first child's wails. Again the same steps were taken as another woman was called to join the other ones assisting Kaede, a few cradles brought in to aid in holding each baby while their mother gave them another sibling.

It felt like forever when Kaede finally handed off her last child, four children that were healthy and happy. Kagome lay back, her body slick with perspiration and tears as she turned her head to look at the four cribs with her-no- their pups. She had one girl and three boys and she had yet to even lay eyes on them as the three women and Kaede looked them over to make sure that all were fully formed with no birth defects or health issues, but judging by their cries upon coming out of her womb she doubted they were nothing but perfect and while she had been afraid before giving birth to them she yearned to hold her children. It was as if the older Miko could read her mind, bringing her first child, the small girl wailing as she was moved toward her mother. When the baby was placed in her weak arms she immediately began to cry softly at first as her child opened her eyes to stare into her own brown ones.

The little girl looked like her, her hair black with what appeared to be small puppy ears that were silver like her father resting downward on her head. Her eyes were brown like Kagome's, wide and glistening from the tears that she had been shedding, those same tears drying up as she stared up at her mother. Pulling back her top she aided her child in finding a breast to feed on while Kaede placed one of her sons in her other arm, his golden eyes watching her silently, no tears gracing his eyes as he too found a breast to latch onto. Both her children watched her for a moment as their eyelids became heavy with the intake of milk, content with their bellies being filled while the others seemed to calm down in their cribs awaiting their turn to feast upon the milk their mother was feeding their siblings. After the first two had been fed she was handed her last two children, both the boys graced with silver hair like their father and golden eyes. All of them had their father's ears, something that made her smile knowing that they had the cute triangles on their heads instead of ears like hers. She wondered though, if they were quarter demon since their looks were like that of their father instead of appearing more human in appearance.

"They're more than half demon," came a response from the wolf demon whom she had learned was named, Kata. "You're a Hanyou and I figured by smelling you that your mate is also half demon. Those pups," she said pointing to where three of the children rested, one still in her arms watching her with such an intense gaze, his mouth still latched onto her nipple. "They have a scent that leads me to believe they are a little more than half demons." She smiled, the smile holding a sense of sadness. "Why are you alone anyway? Where is your mate?" Kagome looked away as Kaede looked over at her from the spot by the fire where she was currently cooking a meal for them. She also wanted to know why the young woman was alone and why Inuyasha wasn't at her side. She knew that he had gone to assist the wolf leader at Sango's insisting and while she had agreed with the slayer's thoughts on why he should give the Miko time to adjust after the battle and all that had been told to her about the new relationship between the two, she knew that Inuyasha would have wanted to be there when his pups came into the world.

"He's helping some others that had tragedy befall their village," she stated, still not turning toward them as her eyes watched her son's eyes close, sleep not far behind. The wolf nodded, knowing by scent that the woman before her wasn't lying, but also knowing that there was more to this story, but with one look at the Miko by the fire she knew that she should leave and give the two privacy. She had gathered upon seeing the way the other Miko had acted that she knew this young half demon and that she too found it strange for the young woman to be out and about alone on the road like she had been. Bidding them good day she headed out into the sunshine from the late afternoon sun. Kaede came to her side, taking her child as he snoozed peacefully now that his stomach was full.

"Did ye run from the village child?" she questioned, laying the baby in the vacant crib before turning her gaze toward Kagome. The Miko turned to her in surprise. "I know that neither Sango nor Miroku would have let ye travel alone when you were in such an advanced state of pregnancy." Flushing at the chastising tone of the older Miko she finally nodded. "Why would ye take such a chance? Do ye know what Inuyasha would d-"

"He would be mad at me, but only because he feels burdened with the knowledge that I was pregnant after a night that I am sure he wishes never happened," she spat, her tone bitter with the knowledge that the Hanyou in question would only be with her because he felt responsible. He wasn't a monster. He was a noble male, even if he denied it. She had forgiven him for his lapse in memory since she would change nothing in being given his children. They were a gift that she would never regret. Kaede had no words to say, her eyes closing in both frustration and anger at the woman before her. Kagome was being irrational, but that was to be expected since neither of them had been all that wise to each other's feelings. The rest of the group and even she could see that they truly belonged together, but with her sister continuing to butt into their relationship it had stalled to the point that neither knew what to do and that was something that still seemed to be causing a chasm in their affections.

"Child," she said, her tone a bit harsher than usual when talking with the younger Miko, "Ye both care deeply for each other, a love that was not allowed to bloom because of my sister's trifling." Kagome looked up at the tone that was being used toward her, feeling as if she were being reprimanded like a child that had snuck in a small snack before dinner. She didn't like it but because of the respect she bore towards Kaede she sat silently, a mutinous expression on her face. "Even with my sister long gone, Kami help her, ye two are still standing on the edge of a cliff looking mournful of that relationship being lost when it is not gone. Ye just have to talk and find out what the other feels even if ye are afraid of what the other has to say. Is it fair to keep his children from him?" Looking down at her hands that were fisting in the cream colored blanket she shook her head. Even if he didn't love her who was to say that he wouldn't love his children. She was sure with all that she knew about the male that he had thought his only chance at being with one who would have bore him children had been with Kikyo and even then they would be human since he would have used the jewel of four souls to fulfill her request.

He had wanted to be a full demon, but would have given up that dream for the dead Miko and that was what love was. She loved him enough to at least give him the chance to be apart of his pups lives. She knew that deep down she would do anything to make him happy even if she were miserable. Looking toward her babies, their soft breathing the only sound in the room. Sighing with resignation she finally spoke, "You are right. It is only fair to him and to them to be able to be together." She looked at the older Miko. "I do ask that you allow me at least a week before you tell him where I am, Kaede." The Miko didn't ask her why she wanted that time because she knew. Kagome wanted to have time with her children and time to recuperate from the birth of her four children before she had to see him. Kagome sighed again and closed her eyes as she prayed that a week would give her the strength needed to face him again without breaking down in front of him. She was sure he would not like that she wasn't going to live with him, becoming a true mate by being with her mate, but that was her choice and she knew it was for the best. Why be with someone in such close quarters, sleeping in the same house when you would never be like a true mate? When it was a one sided love? With that last thought she drifted off to sleep.


	41. Chapter 41

Kagome walked around the hut, her energy revived from that one night of rest, before coming to stand before her children. They were sleeping peaceful, save for one. The same baby who had eyed her yesterday long after his siblings had gone to bed was now just laying there with his golden eyes staring up at her. Smiling she thought that he looked the most like Inuyasha in both features and his attitude. Even for a newborn he held that look of skepticism and she found that both sad and cause for a slight giggle to slip from her mouth. "Guess we should give you all names, huh?" Without the knowledge of how many children or their genders while pregnant she had little thought of what to name them, but with a good night's sleep she found that four names came to mind. "You are so different than your siblings," she whispered while reaching out to pick up her son, her last born child. "Since I have a feeling that you will be so much like your father I think the name, Itsuki, is the perfect name." He grinned at her, his little mouth forming a smirk so much like Inuyasha she could feel her heart break.

"Independence, very fitting," came a response from the doorway, Kaede stepping into the hut to join her before the cradles. Kagome smiled at her son before turning her gaze to the older Miko. "Have ye figured out names for the other little ones?" The younger woman nodded as she turned to her other children that were still sleeping soundly. It was easy to tell the difference between the last two little boys as while they looked the same as the one in her arms, they each had a difference to their ears. One had a black ear on the right and the other little boy had one on his left while the other ear was silver, glinting in the light from the open window.

"The one with his black ear on the right is Mori and the other boy I have named Mosu." She looked down at her daughter, the only baby that looked like her in coloring while still retaining Inuyasha's ears. "Her name is Kaiya." Kaede smiled at the last child's name, knowing that Kagome had named her that symbolically. All their names were fitting, both in tribute to how they met or a trait or feature of the man that had stolen her heart and whether they could repair their relationship she didn't intend to forget who had blessed her with them.

"I have come to tell ye that I am taking my leave, Kagome," the older woman said as she turned fully to look at the woman before her, the younger woman stroking her son's silvery patch of hair with a small smile on her face. She knew they would be alright as Kagome had taken her role as mother to her children with open arms. She had feared that once the Miko had had the baby she might suffer post-partem depression as some new mothers suffered that fate when it came to something despairing in their life as Kagome had. She was still in turbulent waters concerning the Hanyou, the father of her children, but Kagome had bounced back like she always seemed to do. She cherished her children whether their father was in the picture or now, though she hoped that the raven haired new mother would realize that Inuyasha loved her and while his torn feelings concerning her sister were nothing more than unresolved emotions and not love, not like what he felt for her.

"Kaede," Kagome asked, mindful that her children were still asleep, Itsuki falling asleep in her arms as they spoke. She looked up at the elder woman, her eyes closed now that she wasn't looking at her son, the open love hidden behind her chocolatey orbs. "You promise that you will tell Inuyasha about what I asked of you last night?" The older woman nodded. "I don't mind if you tell him where I am, but make sure he knows that I need this time to myself." Again she nodded to the statement. Hugging the woman who was now a mother, she headed out of the hut, wondering how she could keep the Hanyou from coming as soon as he found out where the Miko was hiding.

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As luck would have it Kaede ran into him on the road a few hours later, the male looking almost frantic as he scowled down at the older Miko, surprise reflecting in his golden orbs. She nodded to him in greeting, but said nothing as tried to walk past him, only a few words said when she walked by him. "Come, Inuyasha, we must talk." He scowled at her, noting right off the bat that she smelled like Kagome and something else. The old woman smelled kind of like him, but the scent was somehow warped, a slight scent of Kagome mixed in with his own scent making a new scent.

"Oi, old woman, you know where she is, don't you?" Again she repeated herself, reaching out to push him in the opposite direction she had come from, his growl warning her that he wasn't in the mood for whatever she had to say. He looked at where she had come from, noting that there was no scent of Kagome from this way, but that made no sense since she reeked with it and it was still fresh. "I have to fi-"

"She is safe, Inuyasha and wishes to have some time to herself," came a terse response, the Miko trying to keep her cool while doing as the younger woman asked of her and finding her patience running thin with the male beside her. Before he could respond she continued with a warning, "If ye go to her now she will never give ye a chance. If anything she will 'sit' ye until ye are unconscious so she can run again and this time she will be leaving with your pups." That thought made his mouth slam shut in frustration and fear. Would she really leave him and take the pups with her? He would never see any of them. Reaching deep inside himself, even as his demon whined at the fact that he had missed the birth of his children he took a deep breath, his jaw tense as his fangs clenched against the curses he wanted to deliver to both the woman before him and the one that now wanted time to herself, away from him. "Good, ye will do best to listen to her in this request. She only asks for a week, another six days, to herself. She is still hurting, not only from what has transpired in such a short amount of time, but with her own feelings. She wants to love ye, but still has to get past what happened that night and with no recollection of it, she is in turmoil."

"I remembered that night!" he spat, growing frustrated that while had that information he couldn't tell his mate, alleviate her concerns so they could finally be together. It was driving him crazy with all this distance. Mates were not meant to live like this, their emotions only grew far more erratic and as they were both now part demon their demonic side would soon come to the surface. How had she been so rational anyway? Why wasn't her demon giving her grief for being apart from him while his was demanding a reconciliation with her?! Then it struck him that he now had pups! His pups were born and he didn't even know how many she had had or what sex they were! Had he had boys or girls or both?! "My pups?" he asked, leaving her to fill in the rest of the question.

"Ye are the proud father of four children, one girl and three boys." At his smile she continued, "She had named them and while your son resembles ye the little girl looks like her mother in coloring while still retaining your ears." Inuyasha felt the tug heighten to go to her side, to see his pups and hold them while praising her and ensuring that all of them were healthy and happy, but he knew he could not do that, not just yet and it was killing him. Like most demons, he needed to see them, hell, most demons never left their mate's side during the pregnancy or the birth, standing by if they needed them, but he had lost that chance to her being captured and then to their own troubles.

"What are their names?" He really wanted to know what his children were called as he had also missed out on that. Most demons held a name that meant something. His own name fell under the title of spirit so in all his name meant dog spirit while his brother's name meant Destruction of Life and while that title still held true, his brother had changed. He could feel it.

"She named the boys Mosu, Mori, and Itsuki while your daughter is called Kaiya." He felt his heart jump at that last name. While the others held great meaning, not only to her, but to him his daughter's name spoke volumes. It made him feel better, knowing that she forgave him on some level and knowing that made it a little easier to give her what she had asked... for time.

"I guess I can give her a week then, but know this old woman, I will leave the very minute that time is up." She nodded at him, turning to leave with him following behind her. He would never admit his feelings to the old Miko, making sure to sound as irritated as he could when giving into his mate's request, but he knew now that he had a chance to win her back, it would only take some time and with that he came up with a plan, rushing off ahead of the older woman to find the monk and the slayer and tell them of what he wanted to do.

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The next day found Kagome up and about, sitting on the edge of her cot feeding two of her children, her daughter Kaiya and her first born son, Mosu. Both babies suckled contently within their mother's arms, one pair of golden eyes closed while her daughter's brown eyes seemed to drift around. Kagome felt that she was looking at a miniature her but with doggy ears. Smiling she looked up as the woman from the other day appeared, her waddle making the Miko almost giggle considering that she probably looked like that only days ago. The female smiled down at Kagome's other two babies, still laying there with not a sound coming from Mori while Itsuki was making a whining sound, impatient for a turn at his mother's breast. He was like Inuyasha in that fact as well, wanting his food and very impatient when it came to waiting. She wondered if they would also be like him when it came to his love for ramen when they got older. It brought a chuckle to her lips, the sound drawing the attention of the female before her.

"I never got to introduce myself to you yesterday, you know with all that was happening," she said, pushing a dark lock out of her face. The Miko nodded, staying silent as she waited for the other woman to speak again. "My name is Yua." Kagome would have shook her hand if her arms weren't full, her son falling asleep as her daughter sighed in contentment, now watching the other woman approach with curiosity. "Um, so, I know this is a strange question to ask a stranger, but I figured you could give me some insight on birthing demon..." she faded off as she looked down at the children in her arms, Kagome stepping up to lay both children down and take her other two children, Itsuki moving quickly to take a breast before she even had a chance to settle back down on the cot.

"Your m-husband is a demon?" The woman, a few years older than Kagome herself, nodded. "So, what is your question?" The woman pulled at her kimono, looking at a loss for words or on a way to ask her question.

"Yeah, but you didn't look like you were all that far along," she stated, now looking at Kagome again. "Not that I know how far along you were, but I'm about five months along and I am...well, I'm..." Kagome got what she was trying to ask.

"I'm a rare case," she stated, the woman's eyes grew wide. "I'm a Miko and from what, well, I guess you could call him my brother-in-law, told me was that it caused my pregnancy to progress quicker than normal so you should still have another four months to go." Breathing out the breath that had been held while she waited for the answer the girl looked relieved. Before Kagome could say more though the flap began to move with a strong wind, her nose picking up immediately upon a familiar smell, her smile dying for a moment. Just what she needed, him to appear after all the shit that had gone down. She hoped that it wasn't about to get ugly in her, but just in case she said, "You might want to leave, I don't know if this is just a social visit or he's about to try and claim me again." Yua looked torn, knowing that just by her words this wasn't her mate, but a rival for the claim that was visible on her skin. At the woman before her still feeding her children she almost stayed, but as soon as the male came close enough to smell she noted that the boy in Kagome's right arm glared, such a feat for a newborn, but telling on how this would go down so with a wave she headed out, passing the male she assumed Kagome had been talking about.

Just by looking at him she could see that he was a wolf demon, not unlike her own mate, and that he looked rather powerful in physic. Walking away she glanced back as he entered the hut where the new mother sat.

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Koga burst into the good sized hut, his cerulean eyes falling upon the woman he had smelled on the way back to his den and deciding that he would see why she was not at the village where her group normally stayed. He had been surprised when he woke up a few days ago to find that Inuyasha was gone and figuring out quite quickly that it had something to do with the Miko he had just brushed it off, but smelling the mutt upon passing, her scent missing from the area he had again wondered what had transpired while he had slept. Now he knew, she had given birth, the scent of the pups hitting his nose upon reaching the area just beyond the village. He was surprised that not only were the pups in her arms identical to the mutt, but one of them was giving him the same look that Inuyasha did when he came near the Miko.

"What are you doing here, Koga? I thought you were helping that village." He noted the cold tone of her voice, and while it slightly threw him off his own thoughts that he found it upsetting. She had never been cold to him before. Even when she had slapped him all that time ago in his den she hadn't been hateful, only letting him know she hadn't appreciated his claim on her, professing that she belonged to the mutt and now knowing that it was indeed the silver haired male that had not only claimed her but had also fathered her pups he knew that she had never been his. No, she had allowed his rival in claiming her affections claim her as his own. While it hurt, and he would love to challenge that claim he knew he could not do that, not when she had pups by the other male. Sure, he had known that they would have Hanyous if they were to breed, but looking over at the cradles he knew she had not one or two by the other male, but four. There was a limit to what he could take and a woman who had four children by another demon was crossing the line and not only that, but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. She would not allow him to claim her, would rather strike him down to protect her mark and the children she had birthed.

"I just passed the village and noticed you were here," he stated, moving closer, his eyes watching the baby in her right arm as he watched him too. He never stopped suckling on Kagome's breast, his mouth still working even as he scowled at the wolf approaching his mother. "So, the mutt is your mate." It wasn't a question, more a observation of what he could tell just by looking at her children. She nodded, keeping her eyes on the male before her. "I'm not going to force a claim on you, Kagome. I know you love the half breed, I just had hoped I had a chance to change your mind, but now..." he faded off, watching as she seemed to relax with his declaration, a smile lifting her lips. He noted that it wasn't a full smile, not like her normal ones. This one was sad, almost resigned in a way.

"Yeah, I do love him," she said simply, saying nothing about being the mate to the silver haired male. They stood there, him just feet from where she was, his eyes slowly moving over each child until his gaze fell upon the last baby, her daughter.

"I wish you all the luck with him," he said softly, sad that he no longer had a chance with the Miko. "If you ever change your mind you know where to find me." And then he was gone, leaving the Miko sighing after he had left. She knew it was a hallow statement, that he would never fulfill it as she had seen that look on his face when he had seen all the children before him. It made her wonder if Inuyasha would look at them like that, as if they were too much to handle and hoping and dreading should that be his reaction. Some part of her wanted him to take back his mark and leave their life while her heart, it clenched at the thought that he would turn away from not only her, but their children.

We need our mate... Kagome blinked in confusion. Had someone just spoke? Looking around to make sure that she was indeed alone she figured that maybe she still needed some more rest, putting Mori back in his crib while Itsuki clung to her, watching her with his golden eyes as she made herself comfortable on the cot. She lay there for only a few moments before eyes closed and she fell asleep with her son still eating.

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The children's names are as follows.

1st Born: Kaiya- forgiveness

2nd: Mosu- flare, ignite, or blaze

3rd: Mori- Forest

4th: Itsuki- independence


	42. Chapter 42

It seemed that Kagome was not done with her visitors as later than night she found herself again with another male at her door. Looking up from her spot by the window, her daughter, Kaiya in her arms while the others relaxed in their cribs. She knew he was there, his scent mingling in the air outside the window just as her daughter tried to turn her head toward the door. The Miko turned just as he pushed the flab of the hut back to enter, his golden eyes taking in her appearance and the baby in her arms that was now observing him with interest. Kagome didn't notice as she heaved a sigh. She had wanted time to herself and yet in less than a day's time she had found herself with company.

"So, it seems that I was correct," he stated, moving toward where the three boys lay, Itsuki giving him the same eye that he had Koga, a warning in his golden gaze. At the look that passed the older dog demon's face she knew that her son had given him his version of the stink eye and she found that she wanted to laugh. The boy was going to be a handful once he was older if he wasn't already with his attitude. As he turned toward her, the children forgotten, his nose twitching. "So the wolf has come as well." He wasn't saying anything that made much sense to her at first and now he was talking about Koga. What was he even doing here? She knew he didn't like humans all that much, or anyone other than the little girl, Rin, as far as she knew. She truly wanted to ask him that, but she didn't dare at this moment, not with her children there and with how volatile he could be when ticked off so she waited. She didn't have to wait long before he continued, "I'm assume you shut him down since you have a mate, though I have to wonder what kind of mate my brother is if he isn't here to see his children or his mate." She felt the heat rush into her cheeks, her daughter whimpering at those words.

"I have no clue what kind of mate Inuyasha is yet since I haven't seen him in a week and a half, at my choice," she spat, her daughter picking up on the tension and beginning to cry now, her tears reminding Kagome that she was holding her child when getting into it with Sesshomaru. Rocking the little girl in hopes of soothing her she toned down her next voice, making it seem calm even as she was seething on the inside. She might not be with Inuyasha, but he was still the love of her life and a good friend. He didn't deserve to be bashed for something that he had no say in. "I wanted time to myself," she continued, keeping her tone calm while ripping into him, "But again I find myself with another person in this hut." She recalled that he had been rather nice when they had been on the road, telling her that she was having more than one baby and seeming to keep his cool around Inuyasha when usually he was trying to kill the Hanyou so she took a deep breath. "Sorry, I-"

"You're weary, I get it," he said before taking a seat in a chair across from the bed. "I figured out that since you were alone something happened between you and my brother and while I usually don't get involved with other people's issues, especially when it comes to him, I find myself drawn to this. Maybe it's because I respect you or maybe it's because the fact that you are the mother to my niece and nephews, but I felt that I should give you a bit of information that might save you further heartache and pain." Telling by the look on his face this was serious she took her now calm daughter back to her crib, her son Itsuki reaching whining when she turned her back. Giving in rather quickly she picked up the youngest baby, his eyes immediately narrowing on the man that was his uncle, still glowering as Kagome took a seat on the bed.

"Are you trying to convince me to go back to Inuyasha, because while I fin-" He put his hand up to silence her, her mouth closing in surprise at his actions.

"You should go back to him and not just because he wants it, but because while I am surprised that you haven't been experiencing any affects, you will begin to experience a decline in your heath that will be fatal. Do you want your children to grow up without a mother just because you are being stubborn?" Her eyes were wide in surprise, fear flickering in them as she looked down at her son. She would be killing herself by staying away from Inuyasha? She didn't want to be with him yet, she wasn't ready to step across that bridge and yet the thought of leaving her children behind, the ones that had just been given to her she found that she had no choice.

"It's not like I'm staying away forever, just a we-"

"Don't lie to me Miko," he stated and as if he knew what was coming he continued, "And don't say you weren't. I hate being lied to. You weren't planning on going back, at least not to be with your mate." He knew that she was torn between going back to Inuyasha, even with that threat that she would die if she kept herself from him and yet he wondered why. Sure, he knew his brother had hurt the woman before him with his continued following of the dead Miko, but even he, an outsider, could see that his brother had strong feelings for the woman before him. "You two are mates and new ones at that, so stop all this stupid avoiding him and go to his side or just let him die, because just like you being away from each other like also gives him the same path." He shrugged. "Though with how you two are holding together you might have a longer time before you both expire."

"Okay! Okay," she hissed, finally getting that her refusing to stand by Inuyasha, even if just to keep them both alive, would be a better fate than leaving her children to be without either parent. The death of Inuyasha causing tears to well up at the thought. She wouldn't do anything to bring him harm, having even fought to keep him alive when he had almost joined Kikyo in death early on in their relationship. Sighing she returned her son to his crib before turning to face Sesshomaru. "I'll go to him." She would, she wouldn't allow him to die just because of what had transpired between them, but she wouldn't do more than take care of her children. That was all she would do. Inuyasha may be her mate because of a mark, but she wouldn't be a mate in any other form but on paper. That was all she could handle, even knowing what pleasure he had brought by his touch.

She could only recall his touch from the little bit that her dream had given her, but she had no further memory to see if he had meant to have sex with her or if he had been thinking of Kikyo as he lay with her in that hot springs. Even now the thought of his touch brought a flush to her cheeks and a tingle to her body. She had always known that he would be as great a lover as in her dreams, but the real experience had been far more memorable. He had surpassed her expectations and she was happy to have him as her first even if she had yet to remember the whole act itself.

"I will take my leave, Miko," the silver haired male stated before turning on his heel and exiting the hut. She knew, even if he had not said it, that he would be back. He would check up on them to see if she was going to be true to her word so with a heavy heart she walked to the flap, the afternoon sun warming her skin. Opening the flap she looked around for a familiar face, unable to bring herself to leave her babies alone for even a moment. Who knew if another bit of unwelcome company would come to call and was surprised and not that she had yet another caller, but this time it was a familiar woman, her brown hair moving around her face as she too seemed to be searching thru the crowd.

"Sango!" she called out as her hand waved in the air, everything else forgotten as she saw her friend that had become a sister to her. The brunette's eyes shifted from where she had been looking to see Kagome yelling at her, an arm raised in attempt to get her attention. Smiling she rushed over to the Miko's side, pulling the other woman into tight hug as tears sprung from her eyes. Kagome felt a few tears of her own, but she laughed in spite of it all at her friend's reaction to seeing her in less than three days. "Hey, why are you crying?" she asked after pulling back.

"Because I didn't get to be there!" Sango wiped a few tears as her eyes narrowed and Kagome found herself in front of very ticked off slayer, a complete 180 from how she had been just a second ago. "And you!" she hissed. "How could you lie to me?!" The betrayal was clear in her eyes as she stared down the raven haired woman. "I thought we're always honest with each other!" Sango was really hurt! She had never lied to Kagome, not even about her feelings for the monk before they had become engaged and she had been sure her friend did the same thing, telling her all of her problems. They had shared so many secrets in the hot springs' waters or when they were alone, when both males were not close enough to hear them. This was her sister and even with the reunion with Kohaku, her own brother no less, she still felt closer to Kagome. Maybe it was because they were both girls or maybe their ages had to do something with it, but she truly felt like Kagome were her own sister.

"Because I knew you would talk me out of it," she said as guilt reflected in her eyes. The slayer could see where she was coming from, but she was still upset with the other woman for not at least confiding in her. She had been worried when Inuyasha had come to them, claiming that Kagome had never gone home, that she had left shortly after Sango had left the well. She should have known that the Miko would do that, after all Kagome had been acting super weird before that, when it had been revealed all that time ago that she was pregnant. It hadn't helped with Inuyasha's reaction to it all since Kagome loved the idiot even with his temper and his- Oh, that made sense then... They were both temperamental and even she had failed to see that Inuyasha cared, though he had a funny way of showing it. Maybe it was a good thing that this had happened and while it would have been better to have the pair remember that night she couldn't say how it would have gone the next morning. They both would have thought it a mistake, that the sake had caused them to behave that way.

"As much as I understand your thought process, never do it again," Sango stated. Kagome smiled at the older woman knowing that she was lucky to have such a friend when even her own friends in her time might not have reacted so well to it all. Not the drinking, the sex, and the pregnancy. "Now, let me see those babies!" Laughing at the slayer's excited tone they both headed into the hut so the Miko could show off her children.

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Inuyasha was moving quickly, far more than the men that were assisting him after Miroku had helped to get volunteers to help him in the task at hand. He hoped that it would be done before Kagome came back, seeing as he had a whole six days to complete it and to ensure that he had sent Sango to tend to the Miko. She had been upset when he had first told her of what had transpired and while he had been sure she hadn't believed him at first he had proven his point by taking them to the well where the bag was still at the bottom of the well. While she had turned her anger towards the missing woman he had explained what he wanted to do and without explanation the monk and slayer had agreed, the slayer stomping off to complete her side of the agreement, though she had almost told him 'no'. He wouldn't have pushed it because he could see very clearly that she felt as hurt as he had when Kaede had told him that Kagome didn't want to see him for a week at least. He had thought it over on his way back to his other friends and could see where she was coming from and while it hurt him that she didn't want to give him a chance he had understood.

It had all happened so quickly and yet it had been months of pain for her. First having sex with someone she couldn't recall then the pregnancy and while he had reacted poorly to that because of the pain at the thought that she would rather give herself to another he had realized now that it wasn't about him. She had been just as hurt, feeling guilty for something that she hadn't intended to happen and with no memory of the event he knew she had been in turmoil. Sure, even if he put himself in her shoes he would never know what she was really thinking or why she felt so guilty, but at first he had been sure it was because of whom she had slept with, thinking at the time that it had been Koga and then Naraku had tried to lie and tell them that he had been her lover. While that was not true for a second he had believed it. He had believed the worse about a woman who had never given him any reason to think such a vulgar thing like that! And as for what happened after that, there was no telling. The Queen had admitted to filling the Miko's head with lies, but she had also only fed on the insecurities that she had already held, like that kid of Naraku's had done. Looked for the darkness and yet again it had been found, a darkness that centered around him and Kikyo.

He hated that he was the cause of her pain, but it was because he wasn't good with expressing something like love. Sure, he had shown her in his own way like protecting her, giving her his kills instead of the slayer for her approval, and other things, but who was to say that she understood that kind of thing. She wasn't a demon.. well, now she was, but she still didn't know what such things meant. His actions had been obvious to the others in the group like Miroku and Sango as well as Shippo. Even for a kid he had seen his own parents do that, but the humans of his group had just known strangely enough and yet Kagome had never seen it. Was it because of how he had acted in the beginning, how upset he had been because of her appearance and then Kikyo had come back. He had known of his feelings for the younger Miko from the moment he had seen her, but he hadn't been able to get past her appearance and how closely she had resembled the one who had pinned him to the tree. That had all changed within a few months, seeing that she truly cared about him, but the moment he had known his feelings had changed had been when she had cried for him.

Sure, she had told him she thought he was perfect just the way he was, a Hanyou, but words were meaningless when you didn't fit in. It had been those tears that had truly changed it all. She had cared about him dying, worried about his welfare. It would have all been perfect if Kikyo hadn't come back, but he had caused that... the shock of seeing her alive right before his eyes and the guilt had been strong. How could he have fallen for another after telling Kikyo that he loved her. Now he knew that it wasn't really love, not real love. When you loved someone you accepted them as she had. Someone as pure as she was had accepted him and had given him friends... a pack of people that he could call family.

"So, how long are you going to stand there with that wood?" Miroku asked, grinning at the look of embarrassment that appeared on the face of the Hanyou as he looked down to realize that he had indeed stopped walking and was holding a pile of wood tightly in front of him.

"Feh, however long I want to!" he snapped before heading to the spot where the frame of a house was standing. It was close to the village and yet far enough to give them privacy. He hoped that she liked it since he was trying to make it close to her own time's buildings. He had gone over to the other side to get a good feel for her home and how much of it he could duplicate without things like windows and such. It wouldn't be as big, but it would have at least four bedrooms and a medium sized living room as well as things that could pass for couches and such. Not having any money to have such items made had been a worry, but seeing as their group had done so much for the inhabitants of Kaede's village and some of the others close by as well as Minako's village he had been surprised that it wouldn't cost a thing. They had come together, wanting to repay them for it all, even the demons that had been out destroying the monsters wreaking havoc around their own. Even those men were here helping him and with all that help it would take that week to get it done even if it wouldn't be fully furnished.

Smiling he thought of all the children that they would have to fill the home. He would need to add on more rooms if that was the case and that thought caused the smile to drop as he considered the notion that she wouldn't allow him that pleasure again. That dream had been leaving him hot and bothered as well as heartbroken. If she never remembered how it had been, that they had voiced their love, then what would happen? Could he prove that he had wanted her and that he would never up on her or his children.

We need our mate now! A flare up of his demon had him moving away from the others, Miroku watching him in confusion when he disappeared into the woods. He didn't know how much longer he could take it without her close enough to touch. They needed each other and with her being stubborn she was courting danger, not only from how fatal it could be, but because if his demon gained control in this state others might die and he... he would force himself on her and he couldn't do that. No, it would cause far more damage to their relationship.


	43. Chapter 43

Kagome found herself feeling rather down later that day, not just in an emotional way either. She was feeling rather laggy, almost as if she hadn't had any sleep and while she knew that wasn't the case she couldn't figure out another reason for the lack of pep in her step either. She was a new mom to four healthy babies that required little to nothing from her. They needed her milk and attention, but other than that they were not openly clingy which made her doubt it was her babies causing her to lag around, but there was nothing el-

It's because we are not near our mate!

...you will begin to experience a decline in your heath that will be fatal...

That voice from before was intertwined with the words spoken by Sesshomaru, almost right on top of each other, but she could hear them both rattle around in her head separately... Feeling drained was a decline in one's health, wasn't it? She had never heard of a healthy person feeling drained, but she really had no answer to that question. Had Sesshomaru meant that by keeping herself from the company of Inuyasha, her mate, that she was killing herself? If that was the case than she would do as he asked, her body seeming to turn on her after the male's visit. Could it because all that happened and she was just going crazy?

We need to be close to our mate!

She blinked at how aggressive the voice in her head was being, a voice that she had not heard until that day, the visit with Sesshomaru only a day later. She could feel a pull in her heart, as if it was tugging violently toward the door, her eyes flickering red in the dimly lit hut. Sango was asleep on the bed, had passed out after spending the whole day with her and the babies. If this was her demon than why didn't it react to the other female so close to her babies? Weren't demons protective of their spawn?

Our Beta would never harm pups!

"Beta?" she questioned the room, an answer not forthcoming from the shadows. Then it occurred to her that they were a pack and a Beta was second in command! She glanced over at the slayer with a soft smile. So that meant that Miroku was Inuyasha's Beta since it was obvious that it was Inuyasha who made them a pack, thus making him the Alpha... She frowned. How did she know that? She had only heard a little about packs from Koga as well as some of his men while the other half of information she had was from Sango, but she was sure neither had told her that bit of information. She was turning into a demon, well, she was a half demon now and that was all thanks to the male she had sent away. She could never go home, not that she had wanted to, but being a demon made it permanent since she would stick out like a sore thumb unlike the Hanyou. He could wear a hate to keep his ears hidden, but she... She touched her pointed ears with a sigh. ...she could never fit in. Her hair was still dark so she had some of her human attributes, but how long would that last if it did?

Was she sure that this was the end of the changes in her body? There was no way to tell...

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The next morning came with the news that Kagome was ready to go back, surprising the slayer with her since the woman had wanted a week to herself and while she was happy that the Miko wanted to join them again she knew that Inuyasha wasn't done with his surprise.

"Are you sure?" she asked, the other woman looking up from the cribs as she lay her daughter back down.

"Yeah, I kinda...well, I promised him I would stick with him before all this so I guess I have to keep my promise," she said as she turned to look back down at her children, their children. They looked back at her, Itsuki giving her a look that almost seemed...upset. Was it because her son could read her like an open book, something his father had been able to do on occasion, except when it came to going after the dead Miko. That had been a trial, lying to him when it seemed that he started to suspect her of being upset. She should have just told him, but then again she had been afraid that he would have been upset and maybe he would have told her to go home. Not that she would have listened to him, but who was to say when the Hanyou had just wanted to be with his lover. She knew that she was again lying to her friend, though not a complete lie it was still a lie.

"Kagome, he understands that you need your time and he's staying away for that reason, but he knows you'll come back when you are ready." The words were meant to be reassuring but the Miko frowned. He was staying away because it was the only way he could see his children, not because of her. Why did no one see that the only reason he wanted her by his side was because of that one night... that night that had given him pups?! She loved her children, but she knew that for the Hanyou he had never been sure he would ever have children. Then it occurred to her that she had never asked if he wanted children? Giving herself a mental shake she knew that was a stupid thing to think! Of course he wanted children! He was after their children, willing to give up his freedom by being with her to get them after all!

"I'm ready to go," was all the Miko said as she looked over at the slayer, her eyes begging the other woman to just drop in and help her since she couldn't take all the babies at once on her own and there was no way she would leave any of her children behind. Seeing that the Miko was looking rather upset, the look on her face pleading her to just let it go. She wanted to push the other woman, shake her and ask her what she was hiding? Why was it so important now for them to head back, but she pushed that thought to the side. Her friend was being weird, lying about something or hiding it. She had yet to figure out what it was, but with a nod she stepped forward to take the two boys from her friend's arms while Kagome picked up her daughter and Mosu in her arms.

Without another word they were off, farewells passed among the villagers and the Miko as they took the children back to where at least one of them considered home while the other had once felt that way.

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Inuyasha had forced himself back to the structure later that night while everyone had been asleep. It had been a struggle to fight his demon side when he too yearned to be close to Kagome and his pups. He wanted the Miko and while he knew part of what had transpired, the most important part she was still in the dark about the whole thing. He didn't even know what she knew, but with the way she was acting there was no way that she remembered what he had and he was finding it frustrating and painful to endure alone. He loved her! He had told her this and she had accepted his feelings by reciprocating them! How could she not know how he felt?! His heart clenched at the thought that she would never remember and they would both be lost. He couldn't allow that! He had to get her to remember that night somehow!

Collecting more wood he continued to work on the house, most of it complete from after he had left, when he had left the group to get his demon under control. He didn't have much more to do, save for a few walls on the outside, the furniture on hold for the moment. It would be getting colder soon and so he needed this house to be ready so his family could be warm and safe. Would she like it? Would she be able to see how much he loved her when he showed her their new home? Only time would tell, another thing that caused frustration, another clench of his heart. He needed to believe that she would see it, that they could finally be together! It had been a long road and while he knew that he was the main one to blame he recalled what Kaede had said all that time ago. It was over unresolved feelings and if her sister hadn't been brought back there may have been a different outcome, but he would make sure that outcome came to be reality. He didn't know what he would do if he lost his mate, his one true love and he didn't want to find out.

Continuing on his task, he shoved all those negative thoughts from his mind, but emotions were harder to control when one was growing weaker against his instincts, his demon finding itself almost back at the surface.

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Kagome and Sango walked down the path that she had taken to find this village that short time ago, when her pups had made themselves heard and were born just a few hours after that. They were sleeping now, the gentle rocking of the two women as the walked lulling the babies to sleep, save for one who was, as always, ever alert even as his eyes drooped. She glanced back to see that her son, the youngest was still trying to fight the sleep that was beckoning him to the Realm of Nod. Sango noted that she was watching the small bundle and she wanted to smile. The little boy was like his father, watching for danger, especially when it came to the Miko even as his body wanted to do otherwise.

"Just like his father, isn't he?" she inquired, drawing the golden eyes toward her, his scowl so adorable even as he looked like a miniature version of the Hanyou that fathered him. Kagome nodded as she turned back around. It would take them at least half a day to get to Kaede's village and while she would rather they take Kirara she still was fighting, being stubborn in her way of delaying the inevitable, but Sango had not fought her on this strangely. Maybe she knew that Kagome would not step down or maybe she felt bad for the Miko. Either way worked out for the Miko as they turned another corner, the sound of a twig snapping drawing three pairs of eyes, Itsuki wide awake now, his eyes narrowed on the area where the sound had come from.

Kagome pulled her children closer to her, Sango mimicking her as they both took a step back. The Miko could feel her hackles rising at the threat of whatever was lurking in the shadows. She had to protect her babies and her friend while their hands were too full to fight back so she moved closer to the other woman, a barrier flaring to life around them. The pink tint glowed strongly as the sound of a growl came from the bushes in front of them.

"You better get the hell back if you don't want me to purify your ass!" the Miko warned, her eyes narrowing as they flashed red that seemed to seep into the pink of her barrier. The only response she received was a growl from the darkness as another twig snapped. Who the fuck was trying to harm her and the pups? She wondered if she had fucked up in leaving the village without at least one other person or maybe she had been stupid to turn Inuyasha from coming to her side... She wasn't sure which one she had done to put them here, but somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she was responsible for what was happening now while another voice raged in her ears...

Our mate!

She raised a brow, her barrier flickering for a second as she glanced over at Sango, her son, the one that had been so suspicious was now smirking as he slept! When had the little boy gone to sleep? She looked back at the foliage, the barrier falling as she took a step forward, the demon in her screaming for their mate, for Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha?" she questioned only to find a growl her response yet again, but it wasn't one of warning as she had thought before. No, this growl was a question... and it needed an answer, but at this moment she had no answer to give which caused another growl to emit from the shadows. "Stop playing around!" she hissed, her anger rising at his strange behavior while the sane part of her knew that judging by his growl this was NOT the Hanyou, but his demon side that was waiting in the darkness. "We're going back to th-" Snap! There he was, his eyes flashing red at her before glancing over at Sango, a warning vibrating his throat.

The slayer's mouth almost fell open instead of doing what she knew was the right way to react, but with a flinch she leaned her head to side in submission, the Miko watching the exchange with confusion when she noted that upon the slayer doing this he turned his attention back to her, waiting again, but she didn't want to submit to him! It was different for the slayer, she was sure, but for her it could mean a whole other thing! She could be submitting to something else that she had already told herself she would not do!

"Kagome, um, you shoul-"

"No," the Miko said with a stomp of her foot, her eyes never leaving the red eyes before her. "Inuyasha, even if I'm your ma-" she was cut off as he jumped at her, the babies startling awake to the sudden motion, his daughter letting out a scream of anger at the intrusion of her sleep. Glancing down at her child she scowled back up at him. "Look what the fuck you did!" She found that she wasn't looking at red eyes anymore though. No, golden orbs, wide as saucers, were now looking back at her before they dropped to the bundle in her arms. Kagome opened her mouth to say something more when the male before her surprised her, his body sagged, all the tension from the demon gone as he blinked at the little girl that had now stopped crying, her brown eyes locked on him. The silence around them continued at the pair continued to gaze into each other's eyes until the little girl reached out, her semi-chubby hands clenching and unclenching as she reached for the Hanyou.

The shock on his face was so clear to the Miko, the look of love that filled those golden orbs as he looked up at her. There were so many emotions in those eyes and as each one passed thru them she felt herself soften for a moment.

"C-Can I?" he asked, anxious and fear mixing in his tone as he waited, his eyes locked with hers. She nodded, watching as he took the little girl, her name on his lips as he pulled her to him. Kagome watched as Kaiya reached out to touch the two long pieces of hair that hung next to his face, her fingers gripping him hard so that his face was close to hers as she took what appeared to the Miko a sniff of the male as if to confirm what had obviously been apparent to the newborn. "Kaiya," he breath again as he twitched his nose causing the small girl to giggle. It was such a tender moment that had followed what she had almost deemed the reason to keep him from the kids. She had feared that while in his demon form he could not see the child as he tried to get to her and that he would have harmed their children without so much as a second thought and while it could have gone down that way it truly wouldn't have been his fault, not completely since she was the one to refuse to submit to him because of her own judgement.

The other children were watching him, save for Itsuki who returned to his slumber. Inuyasha lay his child against his chest, her eyes closing slowly as she listened to his erratic heartbreak, his eyes moving over the other three pups, wonder in his eyes as he looked upon his new family, before his golden eyes fell on her. No words left his mouth and she could find nothing to say either. She turned from him and with a nod toward the village the three of them walked on, the Hanyou stroking his daughter's back as he watched the stiff back of his mate. She wasn't willing to allow him close it seemed, but his demon was calm, the other half relishing in the feel of his own blood laying against him with her scent tickling his nose.


	44. Chapter 44

Kagome now sat in the small hut of Kaede's as the others sat with her, her daughter was still in Inuyasha's arms while her other children were dispersed around the room. She, of course, held her youngest, Itsuki, who was watching the others in the room with his little golden eyes. Mosu was in Kaede's arms while her son Mori was in Sango's. Everyone was looking at her little bundles with such adoration and Kagome knew that she really could never leave this place that she had called home. She called the people before her family and even though she wasn't sure her place with Inuyasha she knew by watching him with their daughter that he would make a wonderful father. That took a bit of the weight off her shoulders. She had worried about that, but now about her having to be close to him...

That was another issue all together and while the voice had stopped talking to her, she found that her energy seemed to be back to normal so it was true what Sesshomaru had told her. She had to stay next to Inuyasha and the only way out of that was if she were to take a new mate. She didn't want a new mate. No, she loved the male before her and would never love another like she loved him. That was part of how a mark worked as well. She had to want the male that marked her, to love him, and there just wasn't anyone out there that she felt that strongly about. Sure, she could marry a human if she wished, but they would not be able to remove the mark so she would end up in the same boat. She sighed softly, her son looking at her with that look again, though it was more questioning it was still his look.

"Oh, Inuyasha, did you want to show her something?" Miroku inquired as he approached the Hanyou. The male in question raised a brow at his sudden question, but yes, he wanted to show her the new home he had designed for her, but he didn't want to take her out there with the children. Not yet. No, he wanted her to see it first and talk to her. He needed her to want to come and live there with him. He didn't want to force her, but he would do whatever he could to get to get her to stay there... even if it was only because of their children. He looked to Kagome, handing off his daughter to the monk.

"Kagome, can we talk?" She glanced up at him, her eyes shuttered at the moment, but nodding did hand her son off to Shippo who happily took the boy, though Itsuki smirked at him. The kitsune's eyes grew wide as he too saw the resemblance between the boy and his father.

"Only for a moment, Inuyasha," she stated as she walked toward the door, throwing over her shoulder, "It's almost time to feed my babies." She walked out, the flap closing behind her. He stood there for a moment, his eyes narrowed at her back, but with an encouraging look from the rest of his friends he moved to join his mate. He hadn't been that happy to hear her call their children, hers, like they weren't his children. Sango had been right, that Kagome had withdrawn herself from including them together and he had even seen it that moment he had come upon them on the road as well. This was going to take a bit of work, but he would do it. He would have his mate by his side. She glanced back at him, her heart clenching tight, at the pain that was in his golden orbs. There was determination there too, but she didn't understand why. Did he really think that she wasn't going to let him see his children?

He went to take her hand, but she moved to the side, her brown eyes letting him know that she wasn't ready for that, not yet. "I just wanted to lead you to where we were going," he said, his voice soft, hurt. That did surprise her, the hurt. Inuyasha wasn't one to betray such feelings and yet, here he was, an open book to her. Deciding that she could give him her hand, at least for him to lead her to where he wanted to talk. A smile lifted his lips as she slipped her fingers into his and allowed him to take her toward the edge of the village. They walked in silence for only a few minutes, the villagers around them waving at them. "Kagome," he said suddenly, her eyes flickering over to him. "I know that what happened that night is still unclear to you, but I have remembered it..." Silence was his answer, but when he glanced over at her he could see her surprise. "I won't force you to do anything, but you should known that when ma-"

"Sesshomaru told me about the cost," she stated, cutting him off, her feet slowing for a moment. "I told him that I wouldn't run." That seemed to bring about joy, but at the same time he was rather irked that his brother had interfered, but her next words changed that feeling to surprise and gratitude. "He was surprised that neither of us had gone off the deep end yet, you know, since we hadn't been around each other that much since that night." She smiled then, a rather sad smile, but a smile none the less. "I think with our memory wiped, that with it gone it helped." A giggle slipped past her lips. "Never thought that something Naraku did would protect us in the end."

"Yeah," he said turning from her. "I never even thought about that." It was true. If the fact that their memories had been wiped was the reason that neither of them had felt the pain of separation, then he guessed Naraku had done them one mercy. "Though if he had just let it al-"

"I don't know," she said as they reached the edge of the village. Her eyes looked forward, orbs growing wider at the sight before her. She shot him a look, surprise in her orbs. "Inuyasha?" He smiled at her, the look of surprise in her eyes a good reaction, but he could see that there were more emotions swirling in her eyes and while some of them were good, others warned him of the other path she could chose. She was happy and unsure. She was excited and fearful. She wanted what he was offering her and yet she didn't know if she could accept it.

"Kagome, there has been only you in my heart for a long time," he stated, turning toward her fully. "I don't know why I kept hurting you, knowing how I felt about you, but I wanted you by my side for the rest of our days. I want to have more pups and to walk the same path with you no matter where it takes us."

"Inuyasha, I know that's what you thi-" He pulled her toward him, his lips crashing down on hers, her body stiffening at the sudden contact. He almost pulled back from her, but just as he went to move he felt her soften as her mouth opened to his. They stood there like that, before their house, holding onto each other as if they could not release the other. He didn't want to let her go, his claws clinging to the cream colored kimono even as he pulled back to look down at her. Her eyes were glazed, but there was something else in those orbs... memories seemed to be coming back as she gazed up at him.

Flashback

Kagome walked into the hot springs, her ears listening for the door closing behind her before removing her clothing, tossing each article to the corner of the room as the heat from the spa's steam warmed her body. She sighed in contentment of the feeling of being out of her sticky smelly clothing. Heading for the spring itself, her footsteps echoing in the medium sized room louder than the sound of the door opening she failed to notice that someone else had came in the room, their form so still one would think it were a statue. Kagome groaned as her first foot touched the almost too hot water of the spring, her body shivering with pleasure. This hot spring was soooo much warmer than the others they had come across and she wondered about that as her other foot joined in the warm of the water.

"Ohh..." she husked as she stepped further into the waters until they were at her navel, the steam making her skin glisten. She wished more of the springs were like this even as her mind drifted off somewhere deep in her heart, a yearning for another hot touch... the one of a certain silver haired male. She yearned for his hands, his mouth to be where the water was, his appendages the warmth she felt on her thighs and navel. Sinking into the water before disappearing under the surface she failed to hear the rustle of clothing or the steps of a male walking toward the water where she was until she came up, her back still toward the entrance, towards the intruder just behind her until his hands wrapped around her upper body, his claws touching her breasts softly. She gasped, immediately trying to turn to see who was with her, but he wouldn't allow her, not yet as his mouth curved around her hair and his mouth pressed softly against her neck... kissing and sucking softly. She groaned, a warmth pooling in her lower region. It felt so good, his mouth working its magic on her body, but he said nothing and she really needed to know who was touching her, bringing her such pleasure so again she tried to turn, pulling away to look up into golden orbs.

Her mouth fell open upon seeing that Inuyasha was before her, his hands on her waist with such lust and something else gleaming in his golden eyes. She tried to say his name, but he stole it with the crash of his lips on hers... Taking advantage of her open mouth he stuck his tongue into her mouth, her body relaxing as he explored her mouth, taking time to taste it all as she groaned, her hands finally moving from her sides and onto his arms. She moved them up, enjoying the feel of every twitch of his muscles, the feeling so wonderful and leaving her moaning in excitement. She tasted so delicious, like she smelled. Right now he could smell her arousal perfuming the air with intoxication that not even the sake could give him. Feeling drunk on her smell and the taste of her in his mouth he dug his fingers into her hips, his claws marking her skin and the smell of her blood drawing his demon even closer to the surface as those same claws grew longer. She gasped when his elongated fangs nipped her lip, but she didn't pull back, a moan of satisfaction escaping into his mouth.

He pulled back, but only to press kisses to her jaw, his teeth nipping at the feature he was currently perusing as he hands began to move, his claws just barely touching her as he stroked her sides. Goosebumps broke out and the woman before him shivered as she drew out in a whimper of need, "I-Innnuuuyaaassshaaa." His body grew tighter at her enunciation of his name, that same part of his body rocking against hers once as he growled.

"Kagome," he rasped back as he pulled himself away from her, his hands falling to her hips again. She whined softly when he stopped, her eyes still shut as she continued to enjoy the tingling in her body, her lower body feeling slick even in the water. "Kagome," he said again, his lips brushing against hers, hoping that she would open her eyes and look at him. He had something important to tell her and he wanted her to pay close attention. She slowly opened her eyes, as if they were too heavy to lift. Struggling to keep his demon at bay he words came out ragged, "Kagome, I want you to know that it's you that I want, you that I love." She smiled at him, her lips red from kissing.

"I love you too, Inuyasha." Smiling with happiness that she had spoken the words that he had feared she would never say in such a situation, that she was so willing to be standing before him in all her sweet glory giving herself to him. He crushed her to his body, his mouth covering hers with passion that seemed to burn in his veins as the purple slashes of his demon form appeared on his face, his hands moving with more need, more urgency to feel the entirety of her body. She followed suit, her small hands moving over his creating tingles of pleasure that brought him higher and higher when...

End of Flashback

She blinked, her eyes reflecting an emotion he feared he wouldn't see in those chocolatey orbs ever again. Love. "Inuyasha," she whispered, her hands coming up to rest on his face. "You told me this. You told me that it was only me that you loved." She smiled then, her smile reaching her eyes as she pulled him back down, her lips just inches from his. Their breath mingled for a moment. "I never stopped loving you, no matter what happened and I know now that you were always there with me, even if neither one of us remembered it." She finally lifted her lips to his, her kiss so soft, but so full of her love that filled her being, the feeling so strong that she feared that she would die from the bliss of knowing that he did love her. He didn't love anyone but her and she should have realized that, but in her ignorance and his, they had lost that bliss and now that it was revealed to them... "I love you Inuyasha."

"I love you too, Kagome," he husked as he pulled her into his arms before disappearing into their new home, the place that they could thrive and fill with more pups as well as raise their pups to have a happy life. One that would be full of love and family.


End file.
